Ismail Sait

Khan Bahadur Fukhr-ut-Tojjar Sir Hajee Ismail Sait (7 March 1859 – 6 December 1934) was a banker, businessman and Muslim community leader who served as a member of the Madras Legislative Council.

Ismail Sait was born in March 1859 to Hajee Saliah Muhammad Sait of Bangalore. Originally from Gujarat, migrated to Mysore around 500 years ago. “Mysore was the seat of the rajah. In 1870, his family moved to Bangalore when the British established their cantonment in Bangalore, four years later, when his father died, Ismail Sait, all of about 15 at the time, plunged into the business of buying and selling goods. the family also came down to the city. Ismail Sait, through his various businesses, catered to the needs of the British.

Hajee Sir Ismail Sait’s first commercial venture was a shop called the English Warehouse. He later diversified into a variety of businesses. By the early 1900s, Ismail Sait was one of the richest merchants, not just in Bangalore, but in all of south India. What distinguished this businessman from others like him was his contribution to the growth of Bangalore. It was obviously something he had a flair for. His first commercial venture seems to have been an extremely successful shop called the English Warehouse, strategically located on St Mark’s Road, close to where his (mainly English) customers were. The shop sold all manner of goods from milk powder to machinery, everything imported from England. The shop flourished and soon, there were branches of English Warehouse in Chennai and Secunderabad too.

Very quickly, Ismail Sait built on the success of his shop and diversified into an astonishing variety of businesses. At the age of 22, he became a director in the newly-established Carnatic Mills (which later merged with another mill to become the well-known Binny Mills). He owned and operated mines in Kolar Gold Fields and Shimoga. He supplied various provisions to the British army establishment in Bangalore, including horse gram. He traded in timber. He ran a distillery and a carbonic acid manufacturing unit in Calcutta. He also served as director in the Mysore Sandalwood Oil company, the Mysore Sugar company and the Bhadravathi Iron Works. He had his education in Bangalore and Madras and

Also Ismail Sait served as Chairman and Director of the Mysore Bank Limited, Bhadrawathi Iron Works and the Mysore Government Sandalwood Factory. Sait also constructed a number of mosques and hospitals in Bangalore, Madras and Bombay.

Sait was made a Khan Bahadur in 1911 and knighted in 1923. Sait Colony, a locality in Egmore, Chennai is named after him.

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