Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar attended Kolkata’s business tycoon Ghanshyam Sarda’s daughter Prerna’s marriage to Abhinav Jhunjhunwala, son of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (Vice Chairman and Director of Anil Ambani group) thanks to the personal involvement of Anil & Tina Ambani of Reliance ADAG Group. Kolkata-based industrialist and jute baron Ghanshyam Sarda’s daughter Prerna married Abhinav on Saturday, January 28, 2012, in suburban Mumbai in a traditional function where the Anil Ambani Group Chairman and his senior management team was present in full strength.
In a striking example conforming to traditional Indian societal values, the wedlock between the two modern educated Gen-Next is an arranged marriage. Prominent personalities from India Inc., Bollywood celebrities, politicians, editors and socialites are expected to descend from Kolkata as well as Mumbai. The guest list also included politicians – Union Minister Praful Patel, Kripashanker Singh, Smriti Malhotra Irani; from Bollywood – Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Anupama Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, Prakash Jha, Madhur Bhandarkar, Gulshan Grover, Atul Agnihotri, Manmohan Shetty, Neeraj Roy, Adhuna Akhtar; from the financial and corporate world – Kokilaben Ambani and Nina Kothari (sister of Anil Ambani), Chanda Kochar, Nimesh Kampani, Kishore Biyani, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Utsav Parikh, Ajay Kayan, Girish Mehta, etc. All the leading businessman families of Kolkata including the Goenka, Bangars, Sarans and Sharmas are in Mumbai for the wedding. Prominent socialites from Mumbai also attended the ceremony.
Abhinav’s baraat had several luminaries while Prerna came on a palanquin. Ninety friends of Prerna from different parts of the world attended the wedding (Saturday, January 28) and various functions (held on Friday, January 27). The Sangeet ceremony held on January 27, also witnessed Bollywood stars descending on Mumbai’s famous south Mumbai hotel. The cuisine for the wedding was fully vegetarian yet with several variations such as Bengali, Punjabi, Chinese, Thai, south Indian and Continental with special Bengali desserts as the icing on the cake.
The ring ceremony held in June 2011 in Kolkata was a “grand” vegetarian affair at The Oberoi Grand with Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Rajasthani and Thai on the menu and a parade of stars on the guest list. The star guests included the Ambani couple, Union minister Praful Patel, stock market guru Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Utsav Parikh (the numero uno broker of Kolkata), Union Minister Praful Patel and Bollywood’s Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao.
Ghanshyam Sarda is an Indian born, Calcutta based business tycoon. Late Shiwlal Sarda, founder of a business conglomerate, became the proud father of Ghanshyam Sarda in the early 1950s. Back then, little did the father know that the son would outshine him and become one of the brightest stars of the Sarda galaxy. Today, Ghanshyam is the owner of Rs. 2,500 crore Sarda Group of Industries, which consists mainly of Jute Industry and IT industry.
Having completed his graduation from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Sarda made his foray into the family business, unaware of his potential as a tycoon in the making. Alwar Jute Mill, Agarpara Jute Mill, Axsys technologies, Vision Comptech are all owned by the Sarda Group. He also has a charitable trust known as Chandakala Devi Trust. To date, the Sarda Group employs over 50,000 people and is one of West Bengals largest employers.
Sarda is better known in the jute industry for reviving as many as 8-9 sick and ailing jute mills in and around Calcutta. Sarda focused all his attention on the then moribund jute industry that had been India’s major export earner in the days of yore. The jute industry was a source of loss for employees, investors and all others involved. Sarda leveraged all his might and from the rubble of the sick industry revived nine sick jute mills. Since then, there has been no turning back. The Sardas control about 25 percent of India’s resurgent Rs. 3,500 crore jute market.
With a workforce of over 50,000 in West Bengal, the Sarda Group is one of West Bengals’ largest employers. The Group, which currently has under its ambit eight jute mills which together produce 500 tonnes of jute products daily, has set up a jute mill in Alwar, Rajasthan, at an estimated investment of Rs. 100 crore.
The Sarda group was also the first business organization in India to set up professional training facilities for people working in jute mills. According to Sarda, the jute industry was faced with a shortage of skilled manpower. Even so, the 100-year-old industry had not yet been able to set up a proper training centre that could impart education and technical skills to people seeking employment in the jute industry. According to Sarda, if the experiment proved successful, the group would set up more such training centres in other parts of the State.
In his zeal to do good to the society, Sarda has also been instrumental in the establishment of the Ram Dev Sarda Maha Vidyalaya in the Purnea District of Bihar. This management college, founded by the Chandrakala Devi Sarda Charitable Trust of the Sarda Group, takes its cue from Late Shiwlal Sarda’s belief in returning to the nature, society and environment what we take from it. The college caters to about 5,000 students every year. He also announced a significant investment for a Trauma Center in Bikaner, a Government of Rajasthan aided project
Apart from the field of business, Sarda had also contributed to the state in various forms of events, sports and public affairs. He has also been honored for his work by many eminent personalities of the state. The Sarda mansion in Alipore was earlier owned by business tycoon Manu Chhabria.
Amitabh Jhunjhunwala serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Capital Limited. Jhunjhunwala serves as Group Managing Director at Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Jhunjhunwala is a Chartered Accountant and has around 23 years experience in finance and the capital markets. He earned CA at Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid. He serves as the Treasurer of Reliance Industries Limited. He has been Vice Chairman of Reliance Capital Ltd., since March 20, 2006. Jhunjhunwala has been Non Executive Director of Reliance Capital Ltd., since March 7, 2003. He serves as a Director at Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. He serves as a Director of DreamWorks Studios. Jhunjhunwala serves on the Boards of Reliance Capital Asset Management Limited, BSES Yamuna Power Limited, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Telecom Limited. Jhunjhunwala served as Director of Reliance Capital Asset Management Limited, at Reliance Mutual Fund – Reliance Growth Fund until February 15, 2007. He serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Reliance Infratel Limited and Reliance Power Limited. Jhunjhunwala served as a Director of Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd. until March 31, 2008. He served as Non Executive Director of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (formerly, BSES Limited (formerly, Reliance Energy Ltd.)) from June 28, 2001 to November 2004. He serves as a Director on the Board of Harmony Art Foundation.
