Mohan Singh Oberoi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[1]
Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi (August 15, 1898—May 3, 2002) was a

renowned Indian hotelier, widely regarded as the father of 20th century India's hotel business,

was the founder Chairman of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, India's second-largest hotel company,
[2][3]
with 35 luxury hotels in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Egypt, Australia and Hungary .

A centenarian, he is acknowledged for putting the Indian hoteliering on the global map by
[4]
successfully establishing noted hotel brands like Oberoi and Trident worldwide . he was

revered in his later years as a far-ranging visionary who provided a modern structural model
[2][5]
for South Asia's tourism and hospitality services industry .

He was awarded the one of India's highest civilian awards the Padma Bhushan in 2001.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Biography
o 1.1 Early years
o 1.2 The start of a hotel empire
o 1.3 Role as politician and business statesman
o 1.4 Revered centenarian
o 1.5 Oberoi Group
• 2 Further reading
• 3 References

• 4 External links
[edit]Biography

[edit]Early years
M. S. Oberoi was born in Bhaun, a minor village of Jhelum District (now Chakwal

District), Punjab. During the partition of India, Punjab was divided between Pakistan and India,

Bhaun became part of Pakistan. When he was six months old, his father, a contractor

in Peshawar, died, leaving his mother with few resources. After attending schools in his village

and nearby Rawalpindi, he passed the Intermediate College Examination in Lahore, but was

unable to continue attending classes because of lack of finances. Instead, he learned typing

and shorthand and, in 1922, started his hotel career with a low-paid billing clerk position
at Shimla's The Cecil. He was working there as a bell boy, within two years, he assisted the

Cecil's manager, Mr. Clarke, in purchasing The Carlton Hotel (renamed Clarkes) in Shimla, and

ten years later, in 1934, upon Clarke's retirement, he gathered all the family resources to

purchase the hotel.

[edit]The start of a hotel empire

Oberoi Grand Hotel in Calcutta, acquired by MS Oberoi in 1938

After another four years, in the aftermath of a cholera-epidemic-caused business downturn

in Kolkata, M. S. Oberoi was able to negotiate favourable terms in taking over the management

of the city's Calcutta Grand Hotel. The hotel, formerly a palace of luxury, had been empty for

years, since the death of over a hundred foreigners who were guests during the outbreak. The

hotel was refurbished and the following year, 1939, at the start of World War II, 1500 beds
[6]
were made available to the British Army, as thousands of troops filledKolkata . By 1941, M. S.

Oberoi was becoming well known in the hotel business and, in recognition of his services to the

industry in time of war, Indian authorities bestowed on him the title of Rai Bahadur.

In another two years, he became India's first modern hotel magnate by taking over the
[1]
controlling interest in the Associated Hotels of India (AIH) , which owned top hotels in the

entire region, including Delhi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore, Murree and Shimla's Hotel Cecil,

his first place of employment twenty-one years earlier.

[edit]Role as politician and business statesman

As India became independent, M. S. Oberoi built additional hotels, while expanding his base

holdings. In 1948, he established 1948, East India Hotels now known as EIH Ltd., whose first
[4]
acquisition was the Oberoi Grand Hotel in Calcutta . In April 1955, he was elected President

of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and in 1960 was endowed as

the President of Honour of the Federation for life. He also participated in legislative politics by

winning elections to the Rajya Sabha for two terms, first from April, 1962 to March, 1968 and

thereafter again from April, 1972 to April, 1978, he was also elected to the Fourth Lok Sabha in
[7]
April, 1968 and remained a Member of that House till December, 1970 .
One very notable hotel industry milestone came in 1965 when, in partnership with

international hotel chains, he opened the Oberoi Intercontinental in Delhi, India's first modern

five-star, world-class hotel.

[edit]Revered centenarian
Throughout his later life M. S. Oberoi received numerous honours and awards, both from

the Indian government and private organizations and came to be seen as an emblematic figure

in transformation of modern India. Upon his death, extensive tributes poured in from the

country's business community.

Almost all publications indicated M. S. Oberoi's year of birth as 1898 and his age at death as
[8]
103. In his own autobiographical sketch - How M S Oberoi became India's greatest hotelier ,
however, he gave 1900 as his birth year, a fact attesting to his having lived to 101. However,

in his New York Times obituary, the date is given as 1898 and the following was written: "He

was 103, although for years he said he was born in 1900 because he did not want to be seen

as dating from the 19th century."

[edit]Oberoi Group
The Oberoi Group, founded in 1934, now employs about 12,000 people worldwide and owns

and manages about thirty hotels and five luxury cruisers. Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra, ranks

amongst the Top 10 Hotel Spas Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East of the Travel +
[9] [10]
Leisuremagazine. , and also Rank 3rd in Best Hotels in Asia in 2007 . Other activities

include airline catering, management of restaurants and airport bars, travel and tour

services, car rental, project management and corporate air charters. The Group has a number

of hotels worldwide, latest hotel additions being in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Sri

Lanka, Nepal, Egypt and Africa.

Achievement: Founder of the Oberoi Group of Hotels; Honored with Padma Bhushan in 2001.

M.S. Oberoi can be aptly termed as the father of the Indian hotel industry. Rai
Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was among the first to recognize the potential of the
tourism industry, its ability to contribute to India's economic growth and generate
direct and indirect employment. He worked tirelessly to put Indian hotel industry on
global tourism map.

M.S. Oberoi was born on August 15, 1898, in the erstwhile undivided Punjab, now
in Pakistan. He did his early schooling in Rawalpindi and completed his graduation
from Lahore. In 1922, to escape the epidemic of Plague, he came to Shimla, and
got a job of front desk clerk, at The Cecil Hotel at a salary of Rs 50 per month.

M.S. Oberoi was a quick learner and shouldered many additional responsibilities
along with the job of desk clerk. M. S. Oberoi's diligence prompted Mr. Clarke to
request Mohan Singh Oberoi to assist him when he acquired Clarkes Hotel. At the
Clarkes Hotel, M.S. Oberoi gained first hand experience in all aspects of hotel
operations.
In 1934, M.S. Oberoi acquired The Clarkes Hotel from his mentor, by mortgaging his wife's jewelry and all his assets. In
1938, he signed a lease to takeover operations of the five hundred room Grand Hotel in Calcutta, which was up for sale
following a cholera epidemic.

In 1943, Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, acquired the controlling interest in the Associated Hotels of India (AHI) which
owned the Cecil, and Corstophans in Shimla, the Maidens and the Imperial in Delhi, and a hotel each in Lahore, Murree,
Rawalpindi and Peshawar. He thus became the first Indian to run the largest and finest hotel chain.

In 1959, The Oberoi Group became the first group to start flight catering operations in India. In 1965, M.S. Oberoi opened
the first modern, five star international hotel in the country, The Oberoi Intercontinental, in Delhi. In 1966 he established
the prestigious Oberoi School of Hotel Management, recognized by the International Hotel Association in Paris. In 1973,
The Oberoi Group opened the 35 storey Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai. Rai Bahadur M.S. Oberoi was the first to employ
women in the hospitality sector.

Today, The Oberoi Group owns or manages 37 luxury and first class international hotels in seven countries.

M.S. Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and in 1972. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha in 1968.

M.S. Oberoi was recipient of many awards and honours. In 1943, he was conferred the title of Rai Bahadur by the British
Government. Other honors include admission to the Hall of Fame by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA); Man
of The World by the International Hotel Association (IHA) New York; named by Newsweek as one of the "Elite Winners of
1978" and the PHDCCI Millennium award in 2000. M.S. Oberoi was honored with Padma Bhushan in 2001.

M.S. Oberoi passed away on May 3, 2002 at the age of 103.