From Stealing Wife's Jewellery To One of India's Richest - #Issue: 14 🗞️

Was it luck or his skills that made a habitual and broke gambler one of India's richest man.

May 10, 2022

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It is that time of the week when you want to sit down, grab a cup of chai or coffee and read about the man who went from stealing his wife’s jewellery to one of India’s richest.

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A lot of us believe in luck, and some of us regard hard work as the key to success. For a small group of people, luck and hard work are two pillars of success. I am one of those who believe in the third combination. For hard work to succeed, we all need a dash of luck in our lives.

Luck comes in different shapes and sizes. For some people, it may be the timing, market, or rare stroke of genius that changed a mediocre product, services, and even lives.

Ram Krishna Dalmia was a man who knew the importance of luck in one’s life. In just a few days of time, his life changed and made him a completely different person. Maybe it was the implacable timing disguised as luck and help R K Dalmia struck gold.

Childhood in Kolkata:

R K Dalmia was born to a Marwari family in Rohtak, Haryana. His father left his native village in search of work. Dalmia and his family settled in Kolkata, where his father worked as an accountant in firms owned by Marwaris. His father’s salary barely gives a roof over their heads and two square meals.

Young R K Dalmia experienced poverty very early in his life. As he grew up, he wanted to become a rich man. He did not want to live a life of poverty. And the only scheme Dalmia could think of to avoid poverty was getting rich quick.

He started betting in the local markets early in his life. He used to gamble in anything there was to gamble. All he wanted was to earn enough money and escape poverty.

In his early years, luck was not on his side. Most of the bets he made turned south, and Dalmia lost quite a bit of money. To fund his gambling habit, Dalmia used to take money from his friends. He found it difficult to return the money he borrowed from others.

Due to his poor reputation with money and gambling, he was often mocked by others in the street of Kolkata. No one wants to get in business with him. People did not want to lend him money.

With no win and hard luck, R K Dalmia went to a rich astrologer in Kolkata. After carefully reading his palm, the astrologer predicted Dalmia would become a wealthy man one day. His destiny would change soon.

Responsibilities weigh-in:

With no luck in gambling, Dalmia tried his hands at a few jobs. He did not last long in any job. In a matter of a few years, he changed a series of jobs.

During the great depression of 1930, Dalmia was 22 years old. During this time, his father died. The responsibility to run the family fell on his shoulders. Dalmia had his grandmother, mother, three sisters, and wife living with him in a single room house, renting for 13 rupees. With his small jobs, he was somehow taking care of his family.

The tryst with destiny:

During his work hours, he overheard people talking about the commodities market. He kept listening to the conversation while he was pretending to be working. The discussion soon turned to how silver was about to go through the roof.

After his work was over, Dalmia went straight to the astrologer who once predicted Dalmia’s fortune would change soon. He narrated the whole story to him.

Maybe it was his luck, or the astrologer knew what would happen, he gave him 7,500 pounds to speculate on silver. He rushed to the post office and sent a telegram to the broker in London. Dalmia just took the biggest position in his life in a commodity market.

The following day was not exactly how Dalmia expected it to go. Someone from the astrologer visited Dalmia in the morning hours. He bore unexpected news. The astrologer has changed his mind and wanted to get out of the position in the commodities market.

Dalmia rushed to the astrologer's home and tried to reason with him. He reminded him of the prophecy the astrologer made a long time back. Even after his wholehearted effort, Dalmia could not convenience the astrologer to change his mind.

When Dalmia returned to his one-room home, another telegram was waiting for him. It was a confirmation from the London Metal exchange. His trade of 7,500 pounds was successfully executed.

The commodities market tanked after his trade was executed in a twist of fate. Dalmia’s position was reduced to half of his initial amount.

For Dalmia, another round of insult and mocking was waiting for him just around the corner. He did not know how will he return the 7,500 pounds he borrowed from the astrologer.

Then market’s rebounded:

It seemed the astrologer was right about Dalmia’s fortune. After tanking, the commodities market in London rebounded strongly. Dalmia soon realised that his position in the market was still open as he could not manage enough money to send a telegram to close his position.

With the rebound in the market, Dalmia’s stars started to change. His initial position of 7,500 pounds went up by many folds in just a few days. It was probably the time for a common man to close his position and book profit.

Dalmia was no common man. A habitual gambler, Dalmia decided to try his luck once again. He stole the jewellery of his wife and pawned them for 200 rupees.

He used the money to send a telegram to London to place another buy order in silver using the money he made from the previous trade.

The luck was finally with Ram Krishna Dalmia. In just a few days of time, Dalmia doubled his initial capital and got a handsome return from his speculation in the commodities market.

Dalmia’s star was shining bright:

Though he was doing pretty well in the commodities market, soon, he was overwhelmed by the grief. He was finding it hard to digest that he used the last piece of his wife's jewellery to gamble.

Due to his previous poor record in gambling, he had no friends. With no friends to share his grief with, Dalmia went to his mother and confessed to stealing his wife’s jewellery.

Dalmia’s mother instructed him to do anything to unpawn his wife’s jewellery. Dalmia did exactly as his mother asked him to do.

Tata Bila Dalmia:

Dalmia made significant gains from his speculation in the commodities market. With newfound wealth, he soon turned his eyes to bigger things.

Within years, RK Dalmia went from a poor man to the owner of sugar and jute mills in different parts of India. A few years down the line, Dalmia entered the growing cement business as well.

When India got its independence, Ramkrishna Dalmia was one of the richest men in India, and Dalmia Group was one of the biggest business houses in India. At one point in time, RK Dalmia owned the most read newspaper in India, the Times of India.

In the first decade of India’s independence, Ramkrishna Dalmia accumulated so much wealth that his name was counted with Tata and Birla. Indians used the phase Tata Birla Dalmia to mean extreme wealth during those days.

Though the Tata and Birla family managed to hold on to their businesses, Ramkrishna Dalmia crashed and burned to the ground a few years later.

In the later years of his life, he was sent to jail. We shall talk about the fall of Ramkrishna Dalmia some other day.

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