Programmed To Grow

With more than a million users and presence in more than 140 countries, unlisted accounting software behemoth Tally Solutions counts among the world’s most used business softwares. Starting from scratch, the brand has seen incredible growth under father-son duo Shyam Sunder and Bharat Goenka and continues to grow with fresh impetus from scion Tejas Goenka.

- Joseph Rozario

COMPUTERS WERE ONCE THOUGHT OF AS THE magic device of tomorrow that would make both brain and brawn redundant at the workplace, given their so-called ability to perform tasks at lightning speeds, at the mere press of a few buttons. The vast majority of the populace had no clear understanding of either computers or computing, except for a few, for whom the key to opening this magic world was learning computer programming languages like BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN. Among them was Bharat Goenka—a student of Mathematics in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), who had enrolled for a course in FORTRAN that was being offered in college.

A yen for programming 

The Goenkas are originally from Churu, Rajasthan, who, like countless other Marwaris, had moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata), lured by its business prospects. In Calcutta, the Goenkas took to manufacturing bobbins for the textile industry, and this remained the family business for many years. In 1969, Bharat Goenka’s father, Shyam Sunder Goenka, shifted to Bangalore, extending the family’s bobbin manufacturing to the upcoming metropolis. It is here where the family’s foray into the world of computers was to unsuspectingly begin with his son Bharat’s interest in FORTRAN.