OUR LEGACY
Harkisondass Lukhmidass
(1910-1957)
He was the sole proprietor of Harkisondass Lukhmidass (H.L), which was the leading stock broking firm in India that specialized in dealing in institutional broking and inter-bank government securities during the pre and post-independence era.
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When the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formally took on the responsibility of regulating the Indian banking sector in 1935, H.L was among the first few RBI-approved brokers at the time.
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During the years 1936-1956 the institutional business of the firm was managed by the erstwhile Mr. H.T. Parekh (Founder, Former-Chairman of HDFC), who had a longstanding brotherly association with Harkisondass.
Pradip Harkisondass Dalal
(1941-1988)
Pradip Harkisondass is well known to have pioneered merchant banking in the private sector in India during the early 1970s. He studied at St. Xavier’s school and Bhadra High School where he was an avid cricketer. He also picked up the nuances of financial management and stockbroking at a young age at H.L
Pradip’s first big break in stockbroking came in the late sixties, when H.L negotiated the transfer of a large block of IISCO and TISCO shares for some financial institutions. The deal was a rather complicated one that had many implications for the stock market community.
After having won his spurs in the IISCO and TISCO deal,
Pradip was actively involved in the management
of Mangalore Chemical & Fertilizers public issue.
The successful management of the issue encouraged
him to pivot from the decades-old legacy business
of stockbroking into the unchartered territory of merchant banking with the incorporation of H. L. Financial Consultants & Management Services Private Limited in March 1973, the maiden business firm of the FICOM Group.
FICOM, Group of Companies
H.L Financial Consultants & Management Services Private Limited (FICOM)
India's first private sector Merchant Bank
Est 1973
Est 1973
In the 1970s, merchant banking was a new concept in the stockbroking fraternity that was introduced in India by the foreign National Grindlays bank. FICOM was the first merchant banking organization in the private sector at the time of its incorporation. Incidentally, the State Bank of India (SBI) was the first institutional body in India to undertake the merchant banking business just 6 months prior.
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FICOM played a significant role in the development of capital markets by being a pioneer in evoking public response through novel means such as mass mailing, instructive advertisement campaigns, educative investors' conferences, etc. These strategies were employed experimentally for the first time in mobilizing public funds in the early seventies when the capital market was not as vibrant as it is today
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By 1979 FICOM was the second-largest merchant bank in the country after SBI and the largest merchant bank in the non-banking sector. It was the largest retail distribution network in India, having over 2500 sub-brokers across the country.
FICOM was at the forefront of the private sector by reaching the following targets in business mobilization within just a few years of its establishment.
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(a) A target collection of Rs.1000 million from the investing public was first reached by FICOM in the initial 5 years of its incorporation.
(b) It was the first private sector firm to manage 100 public issues.
(c) FICOM raised over Rs.2000 million until 1980 under the Fixed Deposit Schemes of the joint-stock companies
(d) FICOM was a pioneer in mobilizing investment funds from Non-Resident Indians towards subscription of capital issues of Indian corporate entities.
Ficom Organics Limited
Agro, Alkyl & Fine Chemical manufacturer
In 1979, Pradip while managing the public offers of new industrial projects year after year, decided to launch an industrial venture which would be promoted by FICOM itself. Ficom Organics Limited (FOL) was incorporated in May 1979 for the manufacture of malathion technical and formulation, subsequently going public in November 1979. The company had entered into an agreement with Excel Industries for the technical know-how and engineering for the project. In its initial years, the company helped re-vitalize the entire Malaria Eradication Programme of the Government of India.
FOL embarked upon a major diversification program in 1984 of an import substitution product line, viz., Do Decyl Phenol (DDP), an engine oil additive, which was being manufactured for the first time in India. Subsequently, the company decided to also manufacture nonyl phenol that was earlier imported from Japan and used extensively in the manufacture of antioxidants, emulsifiers, and resins.
By the late 1980s, FOL was the biggest manufacturer as well as exporter of malathion technical, commanding 40% of the indigenous malathion technical market. It was also the largest manufacturer of alkyl chemicals. The company was exporting to France, Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Iran.
Est 1979
Est 1979
Carbon Corporation Limited (Graphite India)
Graphite electrode & anode manufacturer
This was a new project and was promoted by FICOM in 1974 for the manufacture of graphite electrodes and anodes. 4,70,000 shares were taken up by promoters and directors. 2,50,000 shares were allotted to Graphite India, Ltd. and 10,80,000 shares were offered to the public. It may be worthwhile to mention here that for the first time in the history of Indian capital markets, equity capital was raised from non-resident Indians. So much so, that 20% of the issued capital of the company was subscribed to by them, bringing valuable foreign exchange into India, and pioneering the participation of non-resident Indians in the Indian capital markets, as early as 1976.
MAS Services Private Limited
Registrar to Capital Issues & Share Transfer Agent
Soon after the incorporation of FICOM, Pradip also established another independent and professionally managed company with his friends Mr. Arun Agarwal and Mr. S N Rungta that could handle the services of Registrars to the Capital Issues, Share Transfer Agents, and such allied activities. MAS Services Private Limited was therefore launched in 1974 with its headquarters in New Delhi and offices in Bombay and Baroda, under the competent management of Shri Arun Agarwal, it's young and dynamic Managing Director. Over the coming decade, MAS Services emerged as the most dynamic and leading organization in the Issue House activity.
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Later, the firm diversified further into the computer consultancy business with a consultancy staff of over 350 people. In its primary line of business, MAS had completed more than 400 assignments of capital issues from large business houses, including multinational corporations and MRTP corporations.
Fortune Publications Private Limited (Fortune India)
Publishing Company & Investment Magazine
In 1982, FICOM promoted Fortune Publications Private Limited, keeping in view the great need for education and information in the rapidly expanding investors' community. This organization published a monthly research periodical "Fortune India". It was regarded by respected corporate managers, as well as investors, as a premier Investment magazine, going by its analytical and honest reporting of the trends and developments as well as the policy-oriented issues in the realm of savings, investment, and capital markets.
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This novel publishing company was an independent and professionally managed organization endowed with a committed team of professional journalists and supported by leading educationalists and professionals as its valued contributors.
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Sucheta Dalal, the renowned Indian business journalist, and author, who received the Padma Shri in 2006, is known to have started her career in journalism with the Fortune India magazine.