Shri K J Somaiya started from the scratch by trading and selling groceries and travelling from village to village. He started his business by selling coffee beans. Later, influenced by Gandhiji's teachings he stopped using foreign goods. Then he used to purchase few bags of sugar from the Merchants dealing with Belapur Sugar Company, sell them to customers and thereby earn 10 annas per day. Subsequently, he purchased sugar from a Partnership Firm, which had 3 partners, i.e.a)Yashwant Ramprasad Khatod b)Yeknath Sahajram Khatod, and c) Jethamal Shankarlal.

Shri K J Somaiya had following three things in mind :

• To run the business which his father used to do i.e grocery shop.
• To grow sugarcane.
• To start Sugar Candy Factory.

He finally decided to become a partner in a leading sugar trading firm M/s Shobhachand Ramnarayan Kahtod of Shrirampur, Ahmednagar District. After becoming a partner, he was consulted by all the leading sugar factories of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and by M/s Brady & Co., which was the only sugar factory in Maharshtra in late twenties. His control on the sugar market was so great, that the Sugar market at Calcutta would announce their prices only after he announced his sugar price. He was popularly known as "Sugar King of India".

He soon realized that if India had to be economically independent, it had to become self sufficient in many areas including Sugar. Sugar, then still needed to be imported from Java and Mauritius. The Deccan Canals had just been commissioned in Nasik and Ahmednagar Districts in thirties and the Government was inviting entrepreneurs to make use of the waters in the canals.

It was in this context that Shri K J Somaiya launched a Sugar Factory Project at Kanhegaon in Kopargaon Taluka in 1939 called "Sakarwadi Factory" and followed it up by another factory in 1941 called "Lakshmiwadi Factory" at Savlivihir 20 miles away. This laid the foundation for The Godavari Sugar Mills Ltd. in Maharashtra. At a convention of Sugar Technologists held in Delhi in 1967, Shri. Annasaheb Shinde, the then Union Minister of State for Agriculture publicly paid compliments to Godavari Farms in the following words :

"The pioneering role played by Mr. K J Somaiya and his factory farms in bringing about new Technology and improvements in cane yields and varieties in the area will always be remembered."

During the forties to sixties of this century, Shri K. J. Somaiya became a leading industrialist in Western India. He made his mark for his outspoken and forthright views as well as for his unmatched analytical and forecasting faculties. His analysis and views were widely sought both in the business and government circles.

He was a leading Committee member of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, President of the Deccan Sugar Factories Association, President of the Deccan Sugar Technologists Association and gave counsel and guidance to various trade bodies and associations including the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association. He also took leading part in the deliberations of all-India bodies like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Shri K. J. Somaiya actively helped the late Padmashri Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil in putting up the first Co-operative factory in India in Shrirampur Taluka at Pravaranagar in 1952. Later, at a meeting held at Rahuri in 1967, in the presence of Government of India officials, Padmashri Vikhe-Patil publicly acknowledged the help and the co-operation he received from K J Somaiya and observed "Shri Somaiya took me from room to room in the Bombay Secretariat for the sake of my factory. Had it not been for his help, my factory would not have come up".

Having been brought up in Gandhian tradition and in the dave of Satyagraha and Swadeshi movements, Shri Somaiya represents that band of industrialists and businessmen in our country who lay great stress on values and on "Vyavahar-Shuddhi". To them a word of mouth and commitment is more sacrosanct than legal documents and they lay stress on real hard work.

It is the example of these pioneers that would always provide inspiration and guidance to the future generation of businessmen in our country.

Thus under the able and inspiring guidance of Shri K. J. Somaiya, the company established spectacular results. Today it has ranked no.4 in the whole of India during the last crushing season 98-99 producing 1,47,745 tons of sugar with an average recovery rate of 11.25%.