Naval Pirojsha Godrej, the youngest son of famed businessman Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej, is a man behind many inventions in India and contributed actively to India’s industrial self-reliance. The Godrej group is honoring this mechanical genius by celebrating his birth centenary year from 3rd December 2016 to 2nd December 2017. This year marks the celebration of Naval’s contribution to Indian Machine industry and the Godrej empire. All the Godrej employees and management honor this legend by working on achieving the dreams he had for the country and its people. The group has been conducting various activities and initiatives to honor Naval’s contribution to the country and the group. 

The Godrej group is remembering their leader by creating a website called “Naval100.com” which has all his achievements and interviews of all his peers and people who worked with him. His colleagues remember their friend and mentor by giving interviews. The interviews remember Naval as a humble and honest man who genuinely worked to make India self-reliant in machines like typewriters, tools, refrigerators, etc. His friends share anecdotes about him and how one meeting with the visionary changed the course of their lives and how they look at it. The former employees of the Godrej group reminisce their days with Naval and share his beliefs and ideologies which aimed to change the world. Naval always believed in leading all his employees by example and actively worked on the machines to understand and improve them. He was also a fond lover of animals and plants and sponsored an electric crematorium for animals at Parel to minimize the carbon footprint and pollution. It was the first crematorium of its kind and is still functioning today. His colleagues share that he was always ready to help everybody and had given a source of livelihood to many Indians struggling to earn money during the initial years of Independence. He believed that one should use their hands to understand the machines as nothing can replace human efforts. It is this ideology that the Godrej group believes in as they take care of their employees like family. Naval was one of the pioneers of this group and his humble nature reflects throughout the organization even today as the employees work towards achieving the goals of the company in a humble and down to Earth way.

One simple ideology of Naval Pirojsha Godrej was that one should do something new every day. This enhances the inquisitiveness and an urge to create something new. The Godrej Group is working to revive this philosophy by urging its employees to handle new projects which challenge their minds and makes them think in a new direction. The group has also taken many CSR initiatives to commemorate the pioneer of inventions in India. Naval has been one of the pillars of this group and this birth centenary year celebrates his love for machines and people by honoring both. Naval’s contribution to the Indian machine industry has been enormous and the Godrej group continues to carry his legacy forward with their initiatives.