A short glance at our Founder's biography & entrepreneurial journey makes us bow our heads in respect and adore him for what he has contributed not only to us, but also to the community and nation as a whole.

Late Sarvashree. Chhotalal S. Ajmera also known as Chhotubhai was born on 27th September, 1937 in a small village called Vasavada in Gujarat. He was a keen student at school, but like many legendary entrepreneurs, he too left formal education for the exciting world of business. Chhotubhai came to Mumbai (earlier known as 'Bombay') armed only with his own ambitions, aspirations and enthusiasm. In Mumbai, his journey began with small jobs and his pursuit to find a suitable career saw him venture into different businesses like oil trading, textile trading ,fabrication, foundry, paper, etc. The beginning was small, however, he was not a person to be weighed down by limitations and had the courage to take unlimited risks and face challenges head-on, a trait that played an important role in his success.

After deep introspection and experience of running different businesses, he finally selected contract fabrication through which he garnered immense experience and generated the initial corpus required to initiate his own civil contracting firm.

His business venture progressed well and it was after a decade of sheer hard work in this domain that he finally received his first big breakthrough in 1975 when he took an unconventional path to focus on the mid and budget residential segment. From then on, there was no looking back and under his visionary leadership, emerged the brand of Ajmera which is today India's leading conglomerate. Under his aegis, the Ajmera Group built Asia's first ever township of 600 buildings, comprising of 16000 flats at Mira Road, Mumbai. His approach to housing did not end with building apartment blocks but extended to creating a liveable environment and communities with all the necessary amenities. The Ajmera Group was amongst the first to introduce the concept of an integrated township long before it became a common parlance for the industry.

As the business expanded, Chhotubhai ensured that the Ajmera brand always remained true to its motto of quality construction, adopting modern technology while unfailingly ensuring timely completion. Committed to excelling in all that Ajmera undertook, the Company appointed world renowned architects, designers, town planners and landscape consulting firms to lend a unique look and finish to projects. It is under his astute leadership that the Ajmera Group successfully completed several iconic projects and took the bold steps to develop differentiated international grade properties including high-rise towers, ultra modern luxurious villas, commercial complexes and corporate parks. While beginning in Mumbai, he took the Ajmera brand pan-India to Pune, Surat, Rajkot, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad and also touched the international shores in Bahrain.

Chhotubhai is also fondly remembered by employees for his straightforward approach and the practice he had introduced of celebrating festivals with employees and their families across the board.

While many of these business feats exemplify Ajmera's industry stature and his mega success, there was more to Chhotubhai than his entrepreneurial business acumen. Chhotubhai was an ardent devotee of HSDH SHRI PRAMUKH SWAMI MAHARAJ, BAPS SWAMINARAYAN sect. The spiritual devotion and teachings inspired him to also work for the welfare of the poor and deprived.

Setting up a Trust to oversee the philanthropic mission of the Group, he was instrumental in building a Jain temple, Upashrayas and a Swaminarayan Sarvasharma temple. In Mumbai & his home town in Gujarat, the Ajmera Group built schools, a hospital, and dug borewells to address water scarcity in the region. During the 1987 famine in Saurashtra, he worked ceaselessly for 11 months helping the needy and providing food and shelter to 15,000 animals. HSDH SHRI PRAMUKH SWAMI MAHARAJ often called him as the man with a 56 inch chest - signifying his big-heartedness, compassion and benevolence.

Just as Chhotubhai was a pioneer and a trendsetter in the industry, he was also a friend, philosopher and guide relied upon for his honest and sage advice by many people in different walks of life. Today, while his physical presence is sorely missed, his way of life, his thoughts and his example inspires all of us at the Ajmera Group and we remain committed to moving forward in the footsteps of our revered Late Chairman. The journey continues for the Ajmera Group...