J. K. Organisation

The J. K. Organisation is a group of companies with 3 headquarters in Delhi, Kanpur and Mumbai, run by the Singhania family which rose to prominence in Kanpur, India, under Lala Kamlapat Singhania (1884-1937), a fighter for Indian independence who burnt up his stock of English cloth on the call of Mahatma Gandhi during his satyagraha call against British rule. Singhania also set up the Uttar Pradesh Chamber of Commerce. The name JK is derived from the initials of Kamlapat Singahania (1884–1937) and his father Seth Juggilal (1857–1922) who belonged to the family associated with the Marwari firm Sevaram Ramrikhdas of Mirzapur. The JK group was founded in 1918.

The group rose in importance in the 1960s and 1970s when it occupied the third position as an industrial conglomerate after the Birla and Tata conglomerates. The group has multi-business, multi-product and multi-location operations, with its foot prints in various countries across the globe. It has overseas manufacturing operations in Mexico, Indonesia, Romania, Belgium, Portugal and UAE. The Organisation has set up highly reputed Research and Development Institutes in various fields. The family is currently divided into three main groups headed by 3 patriarchs namely Dr Gaur Hari Singhania based out of Kanpur, Shri Hari Shankar Singhania based out of Delhi and Shri Vijaypat Singhania, based out of Mumbai. These three patriarchs are first cousins who now run independent businesses.

The Kanpur family runs JK Cement Ltd, JK Technosoft that provides technology solutions to organizations, JK Cotton Ltd while the Delhi family runs, JK Tyre, JK Papers, Umang Dairies Ltd, JK Lakshmi Cement, Fenner India, JK Risk Managers & Insurance Brokers and the Mumbai family runs the Raymonds group of companies. To maintain the family history and legacy, the various family run companies though completely independent and many publicly owned and listed subscribe to the JK Group Logo and the oldest male member of the generation in power by tradition becomes the President of the JK Group ( The Association of Trade unions) and allots the logo to companies run by various family members as and when the apply for membership and pay an annual fee for the same. It is pertinent to note that these three different units are technically and legally separate entities and have no cross holdings and have no common directors and employees except for the shared family history.