Karsanbhai Patel

Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel (born 1945, Ruppur, Mehsana, Gujarat) is an Indian industrialist, founder of the Rs. 2500 crore (USD 500 mn) Nirma group with major interests in detergents, soaps and cosmetics. In 2017 Forbes listed his net worth as USD $3.6 Billion. He has interests in education, and founded a leading pharmacy college (Nirma Institute of Pharmacy), leading engineering college, (Nirma Institute of Technology). He is sometimes referred to as K. K. Patel.

Born into a farmer family from north Gujarat, Karsanbhai finished his B.Sc. in Chemistry at age 21 and worked as a lab technician, first in the New Cotton Mills, Ahmedabad, of the Lalbhai group and then at the Geology and Mining Department of the state Government. In 1969, Karsanbhai started selling detergent powder, manufactured and packaged in his backyard. This was an after-office business - the one-man company would bicycle through the neighbourhoods selling handmade detergent packets door to door. At a price of Rs. 3 per kg, (one third the price of leading detergents), it was an instant success. Karsanbhai branded his detergent soap, Nirma, after the name of his daughter. After three years, Karsanbhai felt confident enough to quit his job. Later he said, "The lack of any such precedent in my family made the venture fought with fear of failure. But farmers from North Gujarat are known for their spirit of enterprise." Karsanbhai set up shop at small workshop in an Ahmedabad suburb. The Nirma brand quickly established itself in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The high quality and low price of the detergent made for great value. Fuelled by housewife-friendly advertisement jingles, Nirma revolutionized the detergent market, creating an entirely new segment in the economy for detergent powder. At the time, detergent and soap manufacture was dominated by multinational corporations with products like Surf by Hindustan Lever, priced around Rs. 13 per kg. Within a decade, Nirma was the largest selling detergent in India. Since production was labour-intensive, Nirma also became a leading employer (employing 14,000 people 2004). Made without some phosphates, Nirma was also somewhat more environment friendly.

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