How many people wore shoes in India before ‘Bata Shoe Company Private Limited’ was incorporated in 1931 in Konnagar near Calcutta? Probably a much smaller population compared to the rest of the world! Not because Indians were unaccustomed to wearing footwear but because of the cost of a pair of shoes. Footwear making in India dates back to the time of the Indus Valley Civilization. There is also a reference of Bharat carrying his brother Ram’s ‘Padukas’ to Ayodhya and placing them on the throne of his kingdom as a symbol of respect. So the story of a footwear goes well back into Indian Mythology as well as Indian History.
Thomas Bata came to India in 1931 and established a small operation in West Bengal in 1932. In January 1934, the foundation for a new factory was laid which, over the years, has developed into a township popularly known as Batanagar. It was also the first shoe manufacturing facility in India. The Company went public in 1973 and changed its name to Bata India Limited. Currently, the company sells over 45 million pairs of shoes and has cornered 35 per cent market share in the organized sector. Bata India has a retail network of 1250 stores and has a reach that no other footwear company can match. Most Indians believe Bata is an Indian shoe company.
The company was established in 1894 by Thomas Bata, a ninth generation descendant of a family of cobblers and shoemakers in the town of Zlin, Czech Republic. Bata recognized the potential of large-scale production and wanted to make the shoes as cheaply as possible, so that the greatest number of people could afford them. In 1932, Thomas Bata died in a plane crash at the Zlin airport (then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire), attempting to take-off under bad weather conditions. His half-brother Jan Antonin Bata became the head of the company as Thomas Bata’s own son was only 18 years old. Thomas J Bata was born on Sept. 17, 1914.
Filed under: Corporate India | Tagged: Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ayodhya, Bata, Bata India Limited, Bata Shoe Company Private Limited, Batanagar, Bharat, Czech Republic, Indian History, Indian Mythology, Indus Valley Civilization, Jan Antonin Bata, Konnagar near Calcutta, Padukas, Ram, Thomas Bata, Zlin in Czech Republic |
THINK! 
Hello,
Tomas Bata Sr., left what was called a holographic will upon his death. This means that he wanted to make doubly sure that his will and intentions were met. Tomas had already decided about a year before his death (May 1931) that the new firm Bata a.s. would be owned and run by his brother Jan Antonin Bata; upon acomplishment of payments to the family, city of Zlin, etc. All of the ownership questions were decided within one year of Tomas Senior’s death as a part of normal probate proceedings in Zlin Czechoslovakia.
The idea that Jan Bata was somehow just a manager of Thomas J. Bata is an invention that came decades later when Thomas Junior needed to justify lawsuits he initiated against his uncle.
The court in Strassburg in fact decided the ownership question this summer – exatly as described above.
John Nash
Its quite unfortuante that a great Footwear Empire that was in fact the Leader in Design and Creation of the best footwear in the USA ? Cnada was in fact too far ahead of itself during the 1960 to 1980″s.
It now has the ability to re-invade the USA Markets because of the dire need of domestically made footwear in the USA. Even if the component parts came from other countries other than China would be acceptable. Once upon a time Bata was the leader of machined made footwear. I took the one step further by introducing 3 colour machine made athletic footwear that was accepted by the largest retail chains in the USA. Now is the time for this company to get off of its Oxford ass to invest heaviuly in the USA market. There is plenty of labour available, no union pressures, chemical prices are down, rent is cheap, and the international labour for intensive labour production is open and begging for business. Hello up there in Canada, get off your Oxford ass and from your perch so high and come down to reality there is a weath of opportunity in the USA. You just have to have the balls like your Grand Father!!!
Tomas Bata had made preparations for the continuation of the business. He had sold the business to his brother Jan Antonin Bata. The transfer was initiated in May of 1931 and confirmed and completed in 1933.
During World War Two, the Indian operation of Bata’s Czechoslovakian concern provided provided more than a billion pounds of boots,shoes, slippers, parachutes, and supplies to the RAF in support of the Allied Cause. The head of the Bata organization at that time was J.A. Bata.