Legacy As A Builder of Institutions
One of the most important roles played by Kasturbhai was in promoting institutions that would serve the country and the industry well. As a youth, he had to drop mid-way out of college to help in his family business, and this unfulfilled desire for higher education found expression in his institute building. As a director of the Reserve Bank of India from 1937 to 1949, he ensured that Indian employees were groomed well to run operations in an Independent India.
He along with Sheth Shri Amrutlal Hargovindas, Shri Ganesh Mavlankar started the Ahmedabad Education Society in 1936, which later evolved into the Gujarat University.
The society also donated land for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA). Kasturbhai, along with Vikram Sarabhai, was the driving force behind IIMA. He was on the board of IIMA but declined to accept the position of its chairman. Today, IIMA sports a Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre and has a Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship.
He commissioned world-renowned architects such as Louis Kahn and Charles Correa to design some of these institutes. He promoted ATIRA – The Ahmedabad Textile and Industries’ Research Association before independence, which proved to be effective in increasing the competitiveness of the mills in Ahmedabad.
To promote engineering and technology in India he built an engineering college in 1947 just adjacent to Gujarat university on his father's name Lalbhai Dalpatbhai college of engineering. He also established the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology in 1962. Thus, he was not only known as a businessman but also an institute-builder.
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