Kolkata, April 14 (IANS): Bengal corporates Sunday mourned the death of renowned industrialist and RPG Group founder Rama Prasad Goenka, saying that the industry had lost a visionary and a guardian.
Goenka, a doyen of Bengal industry, died after a long illness Sunday morning.
"It is a big loss for the industry. He was a visionary. We lost a great visionary," Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Kallol Datta told IANS.
Regarded as "takeover king", Rama Prasad Goenka established RPG Enterprises in 1979 with Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute and Murphy India as constituents with an annual turnover of around Rs.105 crore.
The group then went on to acquire Searle India, now RPG Life Sciences (1983), Gramophone Company of India Ltd, now Saregama India (1985), Harrisons Malayalam (1988), and finally CESC and Spencer (1989).
The take over spree of RPG had created a national media buzz.
"He was great at grabbing good opportunities, whenever he saw a takeover opportunity, he grabbed it," Datta said.
MCC Chamber of Commerce president Deepak Jalan said Bengal industry had lost an icon.
"Goenka was very popular not only in West Bengal, he was also a big personality across the country. Kolkata will surely miss him," Jalan observed.
State Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee also mourned the death of the doyen.
"We lost an advisor, and industry lost a guardian. Goenka always gave us suggestions on how to improve the business environment here," Chatterjee averred.
"Industrialists used to go to Goenka for his precious advice. He was politically active too. He was a senior statesman of our city," Kolkata-based Ambuja Realty chairman Harshavardhan Neotia said.
The tycoon, who was close to the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, was a Rajya Sabha member during 2000-2006.
In 2010, the RPG Group patriarch declared the formal split and division of assets between his two sons Harsh Vardhan and Sanjiv, who were running all the companies within the umbrella brand.
The next year, RPG's younger son Sanjiv launched a new group corporate identity, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, for the companies controlled by him.
Goenka was chairman emeritus of both the groups with a combined turnover of around Rs.30,000 crore.