It is said that "All the Empires of the future are the empires of the mind". This especially holds true of Bhalchancira Digamber Garware alias Abasaheb Garware whose mind was fertile and creative, driven by a strong internal locus of control and an instinctive power that enabled him to take the right decisions at the right time. A pioneering industrialist and Founder Chairman of the Garware Group of Industries, Garware's name became synonymous with Plastics and Nylon Yam.

Born in Tasgaon in Satara District of Maharashtra on December 21, 1903, Garware had to face abject poverty since his father squandered away the family wealth and incurred huge debts. He gave up his education after passing the then 6th Standard High School exam and left for Mumbai in 1920. After a gruelling struggle, he started his  earnings from an automobile business for his livelihood. Sensing the potential' for a second-hand car market, he started working as an agent for selling old cars. By sheer dint of his business acumen, he soon established his "Deccan Motor Agency" in Girgaon, Bombay and earned repute as a reliable dealer in cars. He also started selling truck chassis, spares, accessories, tyres and tubes and began offering insurance policies for cars and trucks, too. In 1933, Abasaheb grasped that second-hand English and American cars are available cheap in England and decided to go to England. At London, he learnt about the recession in England and in a dramatic move, Abasaheb purchased firms from businessmen keen to sell them off and shipped 35 cars to India, which brought him handsome profits. Subsequently, he consolidated his grip on the second-hand car business.

The establishment of the Plastic Industry was a result of his sixth sense since Abasaheb had the knack of spotting sunrise industries and competent workers. He started manufacturing Plastic buttons  for the Navy during the 2nd World War. This was the beginning of a number of ventures like Thermoplastics Extrusion in India with world class expertise in Plastic injection moulding and blow moulding, Nylon Yarn, Nylon Bristles, Polyester Films, Synthetic Ropes, fishing nets, etc., which scaled new heights in terms of quality and quantity.

Abasaheb was an entrepreneur who put into practice Gandhiji's precepts of trusteeship for the good of workers. Like an outstanding leader, he attributed success to his team but owned responsibility for failures. He decided to pay back to Society what he had earned from it and to distribute some of his profit towards social causes like education, health, cultural and sports events. He founded about seventy five Trusts for pursuing various charitable objects and for contributing funds towards research and development work.

Abasaheb's contributions in the field of education have been invaluable. It was only due to is efforts that a number of Educational Institutions and projects were setup such as the, University of Bombay's Garware Institute of Career Education and Development, the Abasaheb Garware College of Arts and Science, Smt. Vimlabai Garware High school, the Garware College of Commerce all at Pune and Smt. Mathubai Garware College for women at Sangli. Apart from the above, several donations were given by Abasaheb for schools and colleges, gymnasia, libraries, badminton halls, laboratories, etc. Annual awards and Annual Scholarships were also instituted by him to promote academic excellence among students.
Abasaheb was an avid lover of Indian classical music. He was chosen to captain institutions like the State Financial Corporation, State Bank of India and many delegations to foreign countries. He was appointed Sheriff of Mumbai in 1959. The Government of lndia bestowed on him the Padma Bhushan award in 1971. Recipient of an honorary D. Litt. Degree by the University of Pune in 1989, he was also awarded the Udyog Ratna by the Institute of Economics Studies in the same year.

The Department of Posts honours the contributions of Abasaheb Garware to Indian Industry through the release of this commemorative postage stamp.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India