Swraj Paul, Baron Paul (born 1931) is an Indian-born, Great Britain-based business magnate and philanthropist.
Swraj Paul founded the multinational company Caparo- the UK-based steel and engineering group. Swraj Paul went to Britain in 1966 and started his business in 1968. From acquiring one steel unit, he went on to acquire more units and founded the Caparo group in the year 1978. Swaraj Paul's company developed into one of the leading producers of welded steel tube and spiral welded pipe in the UK. He was knighted by the British Queen in the year 1978 and became a life peer as Baron Paul, of Marylebone in the City of Westminster and member of the House of Lords in 1996.
Background
Swraj Paul was born in Jalandhar in 1931. His father ran a small foundry, making steel buckets and farming equipments. Swraj Paul was educated at the Punjab University and later obtained a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. On his return to India, Swaraj joined the Apeejay Group, which his father had founded. It was a twist of fate that he had to visit London to get his daughter treated forleukemia. He took over the operations of Apeejay Overseas. But this trip made him to stay in London for ever. After the Apeejay family partition Lord Swaraj Paul renamed the company to Caparo. He stepped down from the management of the Caparo group in 1996, handing over his empire to his three sons.
Despite being one of the richest people in the UK, Lord Paul lives a very simple life. In his memoirs, Beyond Boundaries, Lord Paul reflects the main events of his life. It contains the details of his business career, including his run-in with DCM and Escorts and his association with the famous and the mighty including Indira Gandhi, Sanjay and Rajiv. Beyond Boundaries is a window into the making of one of the most outstanding success stories of modern times.
Lord Paul has received various awards. He has written the biography of Indira Gandhi and was awarded the Padma Bhushan by her in 1983. He was also bestowed with many prestigious honors including the Pro-Chancellorship of Thames University (1998) and its Governorship (1992-97), Chancellorship of the University of Wolverhampton and the Bharat Gaurav award by the Indian Merchant's Chamber. He is a member of the Foreign Policy Centre Advisory Council and MIT's Mechanical Engineering Visiting Committee.
Trivia
- In April 2005 Lord Paul made headlines when he decided to pull out all stops for the wedding reception of the year for his youngest son Angad at London's Lancaster House. The wedding itself took place in London Zoo.
- Lord Paul's sons, twins Ambar and Akash, 47, and Angad, all went to Harrow.
- Lord Paul is a strict vegetarian.
- Lord Paul was appointed as the chairman of the Olympic Delivery Committee with the key task of initiating measures to acquire land and provide infra-structure for the London Olympics 2012
- The industrialist donated twenty lakh rupees to the victims of the October 2005 earthquake in India's Jammu and Kashmir.