Ramnath Goenka Biography 
Ramnath Goenka was an Indian newspaper publisher who launched ‘The Indian Express’. He also established Indian Express Group with English and other regional language publications. Indian Express Limited was founded by Ramnath Goenka in 1932 and is now run by his adopted son, Viveck Goenka. Now, one of the leading newspapers in India, ‘The Indian Express’ is published at nine locations—Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Ahmedabad. In 2000, India Today magazine, named him amongst the list of "100 People Who Shaped India".
Goenka was born on April 22, 1904 in Dildar Nagar village of Darbhanga district of Bihar. He lost his mother when he was only 6 months old and later he was adopted by his widow aunt. Her husband Basant Lal Goenka was a rich man who owned several estates and properties. Very soon he joined the business of his maternal uncles, Babu Prahlad Rai Dalmia and Babu Sagarmal Dalmia at Kolkata dealing in yarn and piece goods. In 1922, he moved to Madras as the agent for Sukhdevdoss Ramprasad. In 1925, Goenka entered into a business partnership with Murliprasad Mohanprasad of Hyderabad. Till 1936, he worked as chief salesman of Bombay Co. Ltd and at the same time, took journalism as his career.
In 1932, he had taken over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free Press Journal and in 1936 founded The Indian Express. In 1941, he was elected President of the National Newspaper Editors’ Conference. In 1948, ‘Daily Te’ partnered with Goenka to publish Indian News Chronicle, English daily from New Delhi. His work as a journalist during Emergency period and battle with the business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani are still remembered. At one point in time, Goenka was close to both Dhirubhai Ambani and Nusli Wadia. But later the relationships worsened.
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Updated: February 13, 2014
