Born as the first son of the late Kasturbhai of the illustrious Lalbhai family, he was educated at UDCT, Mumbai, and did his post graduation from Brooklyn Polytechnic, USA. He was given the responsibility in the early 50's of developing the newly established chemical venture Atul Limited, known then as the Atul Products Limited.

In true pioneering spirit he began living in Atul and turned the undeveloped village into a sprawling industrial complex. From a few lakhs in 1952 the current turnover of the group is Rs 700 crore with number of employees rising from less than 100 to more than 7,000.

Founder of Valsad's largest educational institution Nutan Kelvani Mandal, he remained its chairman till his end. A lover of sports, he used to contribute handsomely in organising National Bridge tournament, table tennis, badminton and cricket matches in Valsad. A host of persons from all walks of life, including Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President C D Patel, former speaker Barjorji Pardiwala, Valsad Congress president Natvar Desai, called on the grieved family.