Indian businessman Radhe Shyam Agarwal, also called R S Agarwal, is the co-founder and executive chairman of Emami, a multinational conglomerate involved in the FMCG, paper, real estate, edible oil, healthcare, and cement industries. In 2015, Forbes reported that Radhe’s net worth was $1.43 billion, placing him among the top 100 richest Indians.
Radhe Shyam Agarwal is an Indian entrepreneur, co-founder and executive chairman of Emami.
Born: 18 February 1946 (age 78 years), Kolkata
Net worth: 170 crores USD (2024) Forbes
Education: University of Calcutta, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous) – Kolkata
Radhe Shyam Agarwal’s Early life
On February 18, 1946, Radhe was born into a Marwari family in Kolkata, India. He finished his studies at St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata and received his M.Com. and LLB degrees from Calcutta University. Radhe holds the titles of Company Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He became vice president of the Aditya Birla Group in 1970.
Radhe Shyam Agarwal Emami
Emami is a cosmetics firm that Radhe and his school classmate Radhe Shyam Goenka founded in 1974. A $2600 loan from Radhe Shyam Goenka’s father was used to launch the business. Today, Emami is a multinational conglomerate of businesses with over $1.3 billion in revenue.
Associations
In addition, Radhe is the Executive Director of Emami, the Director of Zandu Realty, and the Joint Chairman and Director of the Emami group of companies. In addition, he had been a trustee of the Merchant Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.
Family
The entire family resides on upscale Southern Avenue in Kolkata, India, and is part of the Emami group. Radhe is married to Usha Bansal and has two boys, Aditya and Harsh Agarwal, and one daughter, Priti Agarwal Sureka. Priti Agarwal is married to Raj Sureka.
Criminal charges
92 people were killed after an AMRI hospital in the Dhakuria region of south Kolkata caught fire early on December 9, 2011. The majority of the victims were critically ill patients, many of whom suffocated while they slept. The next day, the West Bengal Chief Minister launched a judicial investigation into the incident and revoked the hospital’s licence. Combustible chemicals kept on premises are said to have started the incident. The hospital’s narrow and congested road hindered rescue efforts, and there were claims that all of the doors and windows were shut and that the hospital’s sprinklers and fire alarms were inoperable during the incident.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Alipore detained seven hospital board members on the same day and placed them under police detention until December 20. Agarwal and Goenka, the hospital chain’s directors and founders of Emami, were among the seven people detained on suspicion of causing the deaths through negligence. In the end, 16 individuals—including the hospital’s board members and numerous directors—were charged in July 2016. Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code contained accusations of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which imposes a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail for crimes committed with knowledge but without the intent to cause death.
At the time, the fire was considered India’s biggest hospital disaster.
Wealth History
#2152 Billionaires (2024)
#90 India’s Richest (2017)
Personal Stats
Age 79
Source of Wealth consumer goods, Self Made
Residence Kolkata, India
Citizenship India
Marital Status Married
Children 3
Education LLB, Calcutta University; M.Com, Calcutta University; Chartered Accountant, Institute Chartered Accountants of India; Company Secretary, Institute of Company Secretaries of India