Premchand Roychand The Richest Man In 19th Century Bombay, 1890 Photo
A rare 1890 photo of Premchand Roychand, once the richest man in 19th-century Bombay (Mumbai). Roychand Premchand had many nicknames, like Cotton King, Big Bull, Bullion King, etc. He was considered one of the four business kings of Bombay. The others were Jamsetji Tata, David Sassoon, and Jamsetji Jejeebhoy. All four of them were reputedly the wealthiest in Bombay at the time.
Premchand was best known for establishing the “Native Share & Stock Brokers Association”. It eventually became the acclaimed “Bombay Stock Exchange” or BSE for short. Despite his business shrewdness and wealth, Premchand was a simple man; his brokerage career began under a shady tree. His office was under the open banyan tree that was at one end of Horniman Circle, in South Bombay.
He made huge profits in his business deals and, with this, gained enormous power. By 1865, Roychand Premchand became one of the richest men in Mumbai. So much so that he literally controlled the city. He had a great influence over the British administration and policymakers. His words and actions were the law in the money markets. The public was overawed and blindly followed him for his business acumen. But, as luck would have it, he fell into bad times; it was the end of the great cotton boom.
He lost a major portion of his wealth to Bombay’s Backbay Reclamation Scheme and other ventures. However, the shrewd businessman that he was, he got back on his feet and regained his lost fortune. Premachand was also known to be a great philanthropist. One of his donations was for the construction of the Rajabai Clock Tower at the University of Bombay. He donated 2 lakhs in 1869 for the tower named after his mother, Rajabai. Premchand Roychand died in 1906.
Did you know – Premchand was known to possess unparalleled memory and never used pen and paper. He memorised all his trades instead of writing them down.
