After testing his efforts in trading, Rawat Mal Golyan established a button factory called the Sau Udyog in Nepal in 1960. Although it didn’t prove successful, it was a first step towards the making of a business group that would own multiple industries later. Golyan was originally from Myanmar and arrived in Nepal exploring business opportunities. After the failure of the button factory, Golyan returned to trading.
Shanker Lal Agrawal, the youngest son of Rawat, whose initial exposure was in the fabric business continued his father’s business and established Shanker Group in 1979. During the mid 1980s, Agrawal started trading in ball bearings representing various international brands. The group has now over 30 companies under its umbrella spanning a range of sectors including mining, cement, steel, synthetics, textiles, FMCG, trading and, insurance, capital market, real estate and hospitality. The group’s momentum in manufacturing gained speed after establishing Jagdamba Steels in 1994 and Jagdamba Cement in 2001. It was followed by a plastic yarn manufacturing company Jagdamba Synthetics and pipes, tubes and TMT bars manufacturer Jagdamba Enterprises in 2001. Jagdamba Entreprises has been the authorised distributor of Tata Steelium for Nepal since 2006.
In 2014, Shanker Group partnered with Ambe Group and initiated a USD 60 million cement project, Riddhi Siddhi Cement. Likewise, the group has recently marked its entry into the hospitality sector with a luxury hotel, DoubleTree by Hilton which is currently under construction at Naxal, Kathmandu. DoubleTree by Hilton is a chain of Hilton Hotels and Resorts which is among the largest hotel chains in the world.