Shri C. K. Mehta started his entrepreneurial journey six decades ago, at an early age. He ventured into the business of chemicals with Deepak Trading and emerged a winner. During the early 1960s, he dominated soda ash, caustic soda and sulphur business.
Indian textile industry was dependent on European Sodium Nitrite (‘SNI’) which is when he thought to replace import of SNI gradually and started SNI plant in Gujarat which had concentration of textile industry traditionally. Thus, Deepak Nitrite Limited (DNL) was born in 1970, with the vision to become the leader in the Indian chemical industry. With an intimate knowledge of the industry and supreme self confidence, Shri C. K. Mehta went ahead with a public issue to raise funds for his new company. Despite being a new and unknown company, investors were overwhelmed by his vision and the public issue was oversubscribed 20 times. Backed by this public support, he commenced his first Sodium Nitrite manufacturing plant at Nandesari, near Vadodara in Gujarat. This was his first manufacturing venture and was a great success. Shri Mehta didn’t stop there and laid plans to set up other Chemical Intermediate Plants. He was amongst India’s pioneer entrepreneurs to have a technologically indigenised plant and machinery at DNL.
He was credited with leading a dynamic Board and laying the foundation of a strong, professionally driven organisation guided by deep-rooted values and commitment to excellence and responsible chemistry. He was the recipient of the ICC Lifetime Achievement Award in the year 2014.
Shri C. K. Mehta was amongst the few first-generation entrepreneurs who understood the importance of social responsibility. His aspiration to usher social change inspired Deepak Group to look beyond business needs. He has been instrumental in initiating wide-ranging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and establishing Deepak Foundation, the CSR arm of Deepak Group. Built with a vision to empower women and provide healthcare facilities and livelihood opportunities to the local communities, Deepak Foundation has expanded its footprint to eight states and touched the lives of over 2 million people in the past 40 years.
Shri C. K. Mehta’s journey has been an inspiring one. He is a great role model as an entrepreneur who dares to think big and achieve his dreams with passion and perseverance. His mantra of ‘Nation Building by Serving the Society’ lives on as he continues to shine and guide all of us at the Deepak Group as we remember his illustrious life filled with inspirational moments.
We are sure all our esteemed stakeholders shall join us in paying tribute to our Chairman Emeritus, Shri C. K. Mehta. We, at Deepak, shall ever be inspired by his thoughts on ethics, governance, undaunted spirit of achieving goals and indomitable desire to excel in what we do. His legacy will continue to guide us in all spheres of life.
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