Sitaldas Kewalram Motwani BBS, JP (10 October 1932 – 3 February 2019) was a Hong Kong industrialist, publisher and social worker.
Born in Hyderabad, British India in 1932, Sitaldas K Motwani known as just K. Sital was just 15 years old when the family was obliged to move to Bombay in the wake of the partition of the subcontinent. He had his schooling in Karachi and Bombay and after working in India for two years, he left for Hong Kong in pursuit of his career in international commerce.
With his determination and hard work, Sital became one of the many success stories of Sindhi entrepreneurial talent. But success in business was not enough for Sital. He felt the vast reservoir of talent represented by the Indian community of Hong Kong should be galvanised to better serve both the territory of their adoption and the country of their origin.
Right from his early years in Hong Kong, he was associated with the Indian Chamber of Commerce. He soon became a member of the Chamber's General Committee and in due course its vice-chairman. In 1969 he was elected Chairman of the Chamber, a position he held for eight one-year terms, a record in the history of the Chamber. The years of his leadership saw many 'firsts' for the Chamber. He led the first-ever Chamber delegation to China in 1979 and the first-ever delegation to India in 1981, which had the privilege of being received by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Again it was Sital, as chairman, who organised the first ever participation by Hong Kong in a trade fair in India when a Hong Kong pavilion was set up at the India International Trade Fair in 1983.
A major negative development in the eighties which affected a large number of Indian exporters in Hong Kong as well as banks which financed such exports was the balance of payments crisis in Nigeria. The Nigerian government overnight stopped all trade-related remittances out of the country and this resulted in millions of dollars due to Indian businessmen being held up in Nigeria. As soon as there was some order in the Nigerian economy and the government demonstrated its willingness to look at these trade debits, Sital took the initiative in opening a dialogue with the Nigerian government at various levels, mainly with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He undertook several visits not only to Lagos but to the World Bank Headquarters in New York and to the banking institutions handling the problem in London. These prolonged negotiations over a period of two years resulted in what was under the circumstances the best possible settlement.
Sital's last term as chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce was 1982. However, he continued to take keen interest in the work of the Chamber making the fruits of his experience available to successive general committees. In recognition of his services to the Chamber, he was appointed Permanent Honorary Adviser in 1986 and Permanent Honorary President in 1989.
Another organisation with which Sital was closely associated for a long period is the Hindu Association. He was President of the Association for several years and continued to devote a lot of time to this body which, among other things, manages the Hindu Temple in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.
Another community service office Sital had held for a number of years was that of chairman of the Council of Hong Kong Indian Associations (CHIA). This is an apex body which has seven associations as its constituents.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 was welcomed by all including the Hong Kong Indian community since it provided for a smooth transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong. However, there were misgivings in the minds of the ethnic minorities, mainly Indians, holding Hong Kong British passports. Sital took the lead on behalf of CHIA to plead their case for full British passport with right of abode in the UK This again meant several visits to London and ministerial level meetings with the British government. Sital was able to extract repeated assurances from the British that the interests of the ethnic minorities would be taken care of. This problem however, was solved satisfactorily and all the affected members of minority community were granted full British passports.
Although Sital was a permanent resident of Hong Kong and Hong Kong was also his business headquarters, he continued to maintain substantial links with India. He had several investments in India. Sital was a pioneer in conceiving and developing the idea of a free port in India. It was nearly two decades ago that Sital first mooted the idea and pursued it vigorously with the Indian authorities. The proposal seemed to gain ground and a site in the Andaman-Nicobar Islands was identified as a likely location. Unfortunately the idea never reached the stage of implementation although a number of high-power committees were set up to examine it and make recommendations. Of course, the situation today is that a number of other sites are also being suggested as free ports. In any case the significance of the idea has become considerably diluted by the ongoing process of liberalisation of the Indian economy.
In the new business environment in India, Sital continued to be active in promoting increased trade with and investments in India by overseas Indians. He was active member of the ambitious IndusInd group led by several prominent NRIs and persons of Indian origin to channel capital and business expertise from Sindhi businessmen all over the world into India.
Another activity to which Sital devoted considerable time and attention was the editing and publishing of the monthly magazine, The Indian – voice of 10 million overseas Indians in those days and today a 25-million-strong community – for the past 40 years. The magazine serves as a vehicle for the views and aspirations of the millions of Indians living outside India and keeps them in touch with developments in various overseas Indian communities as well as in India. The journal, as the mouthpiece and reflection of the aspirations of the overseas Indians, help preserve the correct image, not only of those overseas but also of those from India.
Sital had also been devoting much of his time doing research on the overseas Indian community settled all over the globe, compiling the list of Indian firms in different regions and writing profiles on successful Indian entrepreneurs. He published 7 regional publications – Indians in Southeast Asia; Indians in Middle East & Africa; Indians in North & South America; Indians in Australasia & the Far East; Indians in the Gulf, the Middle East & the Indian Ocean; Indians in Europe; Indians in Africa; 100 Global Indian Entrepreneurs & Achievers. He was in the process of compiling "Overseas Indians Extraordinaire – A Who's Who of Select NRIs".
He held the following positions in his business world: