Smita Basu Roy

It is Naval Godrej’s strong, passionate, curious, and pragmatic way of thinking that the new generation of the Godrej Family wants to take forward. Image: @GodrejArchives

Naval’s strong yet humble character comes to the fore through an incident in 1979. He was attacked and seriously wounded by an unknown assailant and though it took him months to recover fully, he never for once said a single ill word against his attacker. Image: @GodrejArchives

Between the 1950s and 1970s, there was a whole host of new products including the indigenous typewriter, the refrigerator, and the country’s first forklift trucks. The Godrej & Boyce went from one success to another but Naval always stayed humble and rooted.

In 1941, the first 35-tonne capacity Godrej power press was ready for use, and Naval was successful in making the company self-reliant. Backed by their new machines that facilitated new products, Godrej & Boyce was set to become a household name.

As Europe went to war, Naval and his father had the idea of making machine tools in India instead of importing them. With a team of young engineers, Naval set to work creating prototypes of the tools bought from abroad.

It was Naval’s curiosity and ability to go beyond the conventional norms that would make him and the company successful. Naval didn’t have any technical education but he learned all there was about machine tools working on the shopfloor in their factories.

He soon became confident that his children, including the brilliant Naval Godrej, would be able to carry the legacy forward. Naval had grown up seeing his father and uncle usher in the first swadeshi products into the country. Image: @GodrejArchives

In 1936, the passing of Ardeshir Godrej left not just a void within the family but also dealt a big blow to India’s industrial aspirations as India headed to the final stage of its freedom movement. Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej took over his brother’s reigns. Image: @GodrejArchives

What are the odds that a four-word Gujarati phrase will magically transform India's future? “Aaje navu su kidhu?”(Have you done something new today?), a question Naval Godrej often asked his coworkers, inspired several of India's modern innovations. A thread #PioneersOfProgress