As part of its Diamond Jubilee celebrations, IFFCO will install statues of its founder and first Chairman, Maharajkumar Sahib Udaybhansinhji Natwarsinhji Jethwa (1910–1977), at all its manufacturing units and the head office in New Delhi, paying tribute to a visionary who played a significant role in strengthening India’s cooperative movement.
Jethwa was instrumental in establishing IFFCO in 1967 and served as its founder Chairman from March 1968 to July 1973. His contribution to agricultural cooperation, however, began much earlier. In 1951, he established the Saurashtra State Central Cooperative Land Mortgage Bank, now known as the Gujarat State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, and remained its founder Chairman until 1973.
He also headed the Expert Committee on Multi-State Cooperative Society legislation in 1971 and served on committees of NCDC and the Reserve Bank of India dealing with cooperative agricultural credit and land development banks.
He was President of the National Cooperative Union of India from December 1967 to April 1971. In recognition of his contributions, he received the Padma Shri in 1971.
