Kartar Singh Lalvani (born December 1931) is a British-Indian businessman, and the founder and chairman of

Vitabiotics Vitabiotics is a British nutraceutical company that specializes in vitamin and mineral based food supplements focused in various health categories, with many including vitamins based on national guidelines for infants, children and during pregnanc ...

, a vitamin and mineral-based

food supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

s company. Lalvani was born to a Sindhi

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

family in 1931 in Karachi. Lalvani's father was the owner of pharmacies in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Sind Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

before the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. His family moved to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

after partition, where he was raised and educated.Dr. Kartar T . Lalwani conferred E&Y Award 2008
Sindhishaan. He was one of nine brothers and sisters. He first came to London in 1956 to study pharmacy and went on to complete his doctorate from the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. His family subsequently migrated to London during the 1960s. He founded

Binatone Binatone is a British-Chinese telecommunications company. Binatone was started in the United Kingdom in 1958 by two brothers, Gulu Lalvani and Partap Lalvani, to import and distribute consumer electronics. The company was named after their siste ...

with his brothers

Gulu Lalvani Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E. The distance from Gulu to Kampala, Uganda's capital and large ...

and Pratap Singh Lalvani, which is currently run by Gulu's son

Dino Lalvani Dinesh "Dino" Lalvani (born 1973) is a British businessman, and the chairman and chief executive officer of Binatone, founded by his father Gulu Lalvani, and Hubble Connected - an IoT platform. Career Lalvani purchased Binatone, a company tha ...

. Vitabiotics is currently run by his own son

Tej Lalvani Tej Lalvani (born 13 July 1974) is a British businessman and the CEO of the UK's largest vitamin company Vitabiotics, founded by his father Kartar Lalvani. He is best known for being one of the "dragons" on the BBC television series ''Dragons' ...

. Lalvani's youngest sister is the socialite Bina Ramani (), after whom Binatone was named. In 2008, Lalvani had an estimated net worth of £200 million. He is also a philanthropist, private scholar and historian, serving as an honorary professor at the

University of Franche-Comté The University of Franche-Comté (UFC) is a pluridisciplinary public French university located in Besançon, Franche-Comté, with decentralized campuses in Belfort, Montbéliard, Vesoul and Lons-le-Saunier. It is a founding member of the communi ...

. Lalvani has written about the colonial history of India.

Bibliography

References

1931 births British businesspeople of Indian descent British people of Sindhi descent Living people Kartar Businesspeople from Karachi Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Officers of the Order of the British Empire Businesspeople from Mumbai Pakistani emigrants to India {{UK-business-bio-stub