A 60-year journey

"We claim for ourselves the right and liberty to criticize when we must,” maintained A. D. Shroff, the economist and financial wizard of yesteryears who founded the Forum of Free Enterprise 60 years ago. The non-political and non-partisan organization which Shroff established in July 1956 has as its current president the founder’s nephew Minoo Shroff, an economist and former chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet.

(Right): A. D. Shroff; report of the Forum of Free Enterprise

Created as a reaction to the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s penchant for socialism and nationalization of industry, the Forum promoted and fostered private enterprise. Though a challenging task, fraught with hurdles as the government began a propaganda campaign against the organization, A. D. Shroff persevered. The liberalization of the economy in 1991 was a vindication of his vision and economic philosophy, notes a life sketch carried in the Forum’s annual report for 2015-2016.
Jurist and taxation expert Nani Palkhivala, who was president of the Forum from 1968 to 2000, waged a relentless crusade for human rights and more moderate rates of taxation. His treatise titled "The Highest Taxed Nation” resulted in considerable pressure being brought on government by chambers of commerce, tax practitioners and even Members of Parliament to reduce tax rates to curb rampant tax evasion which resulted therefrom. The far more equitable tax structure which emerged since the early 1990s is largely due to Palkhivala and the Forum whose message was put across through the medium of public lectures, press articles and booklets, mentions the Forum’s website.
The Forum has been instrumental in the setting up of the A.D. Shroff Memorial Trust, the Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Trust and the M. R. Pai Foundation to pursue various objects and activities which were dear to these stalwarts.
A unique aspect of the Forum is that it has no corpus funds and runs solely on membership fees and sponsorships on an annual basis, according to its website.