Arun Bharat Ram: The Third-Generation Engineer Who Turned SRF Into a Global Chemicals Powerhouse

A family name synonymous with Indian industry since the freedom movement, carried into the era of specialty chemicals and global manufacturing.

As India moves towards Viksit Bharat by 2047, its chemicals and materials sector is emerging as a critical pillar of self-reliant, export-oriented manufacturing. Few business families illustrate that continuity better than the Bharat Rams of Delhi — and few individuals embody it as directly as Arun Bharat Ram, Chairman Emeritus of SRF Limited.

An Industrial Inheritance

Arun Bharat Ram is a third-generation entrepreneur, grandson of Sir Shri Ram, the industrialist who built Delhi Cloth & General Mills (DCM) into one of pre- and post-independence India's most significant industrial houses, and son of Bharat Ram, who led DCM and went on to found Shriram Fibres — the company that would become SRF — in 1970.

Arun began his own career in 1966 in the textile division of DCM Ltd., learning the operational discipline of Indian manufacturing from the ground up. He studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan and was also an alumnus of the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, giving him an early, first-hand exposure to global manufacturing standards that would shape his approach to building SRF.

Building a Diversified Chemicals Conglomerate

Taking charge of SRF, Arun Bharat Ram transformed what began as a technical textiles company into a diversified, research-driven chemicals conglomerate with global scale. Under his five-decade stewardship, SRF grew into a business spanning fluorochemicals, specialty chemicals, packaging films, technical textiles, and coated and laminated fabrics — with 11 manufacturing plants in India and facilities in Thailand, South Africa, and, more recently, Hungary.

SRF achieved global leadership positions in niche but critical categories, becoming the world's number-two producer of Nylon 6 Tyre Cord and belting fabrics — a remarkable feat for an Indian manufacturer competing directly against long-established global chemical majors.

Recognition for Governance and Innovation

Arun Bharat Ram's leadership earned SRF recognition as The Economic Times' Family Business of the Year (Large Companies) in 2019, alongside the Deming Prize for both its Chemicals and Tyre Cord businesses — one of the most rigorous global benchmarks for quality management. He personally received the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in the manufacturing category in 2019, the ICC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, Germany's Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit in 2008, and the Jamsetji Tata Award for quality in 2006.

He stepped down as Executive Chairman of SRF on 31 March 2022, transitioning into the role of Chairman Emeritus, while his sons Ashish Bharat Ram and Kartik Bharat Ram now lead the company as Chairman & Managing Director and Joint Managing Director, respectively.

Education and Community as Legacy

Beyond the factory floor, Arun Bharat Ram has been deeply invested in education. He chairs the SRF Foundation, which runs one of India's largest corporate community programmes, delivering education and vocational training to underprivileged children and youth, alongside health, hygiene, and natural resource management initiatives.

He also serves as Chairman of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi, and The Shri Ram Schools, institutions closely tied to his family's century-long commitment to Indian education — a commitment his late wife, Manju Bharat Ram, herself furthered as founder of The Shri Ram Schools before being honoured with the Padma Shri in 2013.

Family and Legacy

Arun Bharat Ram — Chairman Emeritus, SRF Limited; Chairman, SRF Foundation, Lady Shri Ram College, and The Shri Ram Schools.

Bharat Ram — Arun's late father, founder of Shriram Fibres (later SRF) in 1970, and former chairman of DCM.

Sir Shri Ram — Arun's grandfather, a founding figure of DCM and one of independence-era India's most prominent industrialists.

Ashish Bharat Ram and Kartik Bharat Ram — Arun's sons; current Chairman & Managing Director and Joint Managing Director of SRF, respectively, carrying the family's industrial legacy into its fourth generation.

The Human Behind Viksit Bharat :Arun Bharat Ram

Arun Bharat Ram's career reflects a distinctly Indian story of industrial continuity — a family enterprise, rooted in the pre-independence era, repeatedly reinvented across generations to remain globally competitive. His shift of SRF from textiles into advanced chemicals mirrors India's own economic evolution, from import substitution to a technology- and export-driven manufacturing base.

As India aims to strengthen its specialty chemicals and advanced materials sectors as part of Viksit Bharat 2047, the disciplined, research-led approach that Arun Bharat Ram embedded at SRF offers a working template for Indian manufacturing's next phase.

Humans of Viksit Bharat celebrates individuals whose multi-generational institution-building has strengthened India's industrial foundations.