Bhupen Dalal

Bhupendra ‘Bhupen’ Champaklal Dalal (born 1941) is an Indian businessman, lawyer and prominent former stockbroker.

His business portfolio includes Food and Inns Ltd., one of India’s largest mango pulpers and a global exporter of frozen food and vegetables, and Western Press Pvt. Ltd, a major printing company that supplies financial documents for the majority of India’s Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). He is also the chairman of CIFCO Ltd, a financial services company that locates shareholders of unclaimed shares in India and overseas.

Early life
Dalal was born in 1941 in the coastal suburb of Borivali, Bombay (now Mumbai]. Devidas Road in Borivali is named after his grandfather, the solicitor Devidas Motiram Dalal. Busts of both his grandfather, Devidas, and father, Champaklal, can be found at the Kuladevata temple on Devidas Road.

Dalal’s father was the founder and chairman of the Mumbai stockbrokers Champaklal Devidas. The firm was founded in 1920.

Dalal completed an undergraduate degree in Business at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, a prestigious college in Mumbai which is also the oldest college of commerce in India. It is affiliated to the Dr. Homi Bhabha State University (HBSU) in Mumbai. Upon his graduation in 1962, Dalal interned at Ms. Strauss Turnbull & Co, a stockbrokers in London (later acquired by French multinational investment bank Société Générale).

Career and Business Portfolio
Dalal has been described as the "aristocrat among Indian brokers".

He assumed control of Champaklal Devidas in 1962 when he was 21 years old. In 1973, following the death of his father, Dalal rebranded Champaklal Devidas as ‘Bhupendra Champaklal Devidas’ and later founded a merchant banking arm called Champaklal Investment and Financial Services (later rebranded as CIFCO Ltd). Dalal remains the company's chairman.

CIFCO Ltd was initiated as a financial service firm with vertical markets within the areas of stockbroking, merchant banking, corporate financing, and portfolio management. It has managed IPOs for Apollo Hospitals, Hindalco Industries, TVS Motor Company, Shree Cement, Kirloskar Electric Co, Indo Gulf Fertilizers, Grasim Industries, Indian Rayon Corporation Limited (later renamed Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd and now part of the Aditya Birla Group), Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), East India Hotels (The Oberoi Group), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Pfizer, Assam Tea Company, Warren Tea Ltd, Goodricke Group Limited, Alfa Laval AB, Robert Bosch GmbH, and Fulford India, among others. The firm now focuses on locating the shareholders of unclaimed dividends within Indian public-listed companies.

Associate companies include Western Press Pvt. Ltd, which is currently ranked as India’s leading publisher of IPOs by the Prime Database, and Food and Inns Ltd, a Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company that Dalal serves as chairman of the board. Food and Inns Ltd manufacturers and exports a range of processed tropical fruit pulps, purees and vegetables. The company’s factories are located in Mumbai, Chittor, Valsad, and Sinnar, Nasik.

Its customers include Fortune 500-listed companies including PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever.

Dalal’s business portfolio has previously included ownership of companies in the retail, distribution, and manufacturing sectors.

1992 Indian Stock Market Scam
In 1992, Dalal was implicated by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in the 1992 Indian stock market scam. He was accused of siphoning off funds from SCB through fraudulent securities transactions with the Bank of Karad (BoK),of which he was a director.

He was subsequently suspended by the Bombay Stock Exchange, thereby preventing him from working as stockbroker.

On 30th January, 2019, 23 years after proceedings had commenced and 27 years after first the allegations against him were first made, Dalal and five fellow defendants were acquitted of all charges by Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi at a special court set up by the Bombay High Court under the 'Trial of Offences Relating to Transactions in Securities Act, 1992'.

Although Dalal was acquitted of all charges, the case is said to have caused him mental and physical damage.

Philanthropy
At the age of 65, Dalal completed a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree at The University of Mumbai. He was called to the Bar Council of India (through the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa) on 6th December 2006 at the age of 66. He now offers pro-bono legal assistance to poor and marginalised Indian citizens.

He serves as the Managing Trustee of the Gor Kallianji Ratanji Charitable Trust, and as a Trustee for the Shree Ram Panchayat Temple Trust and Kalyan Gor Public Charitable Trust.

He is an advocate for greater social inclusivity and equal opportunities, and speaks about his vision for social reform at schools, colleges and workplaces across India.

Personal life
Dalal is married to Rekha, and is a father of three sons: Milan Dalal, Asim Dalal, and Satyen Dalal.