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History & Background
Major Dev Saigal (our founder), is from a prominent land-owning family from Peshawar, formerly part of India and after the Partition in 1947 now in Pakistan. The family arrived as refugees in 1948 bearing the scars of this tragic historical event. He rebuilt his life and that of his family by joining the Indian Military and first serving in the Infantry in the heavily decorated “Sikh Regiment” and then as a trained Lawyer served in the Miltary’s Judge Advocate General Branch or (JAG). He left the Military and ventured into a first of its kind “Made in India” manufacturing business of supplying very low-cost transistor radio sets to the Indian Military soldiers sitting in their distant lonely outposts on the borders, competing with the likes of giant manufacturers such as National Panasonic of Japan.
At the same time he was instrumental in developing the fledgling family ship-brokerage business known as “Interocean Shipping India” by setting up the Bombay (Mumbai) office primarily setup for chartering Internationally owned ships to the Indian Government’s ship chartering department known as “Transchart” and advising Indian shipowners like SCI, Great Eastern, Dempo, Salgaocar, Chowgule, Seven Seas transportation, Mogul Line, Mackinnon and Mckenzie in buying selling and chartering their ships to major International companies like Alcoa, Cargill, Bunge, Mobil, Shell, Transatlantic and so one. Dev Saigal pioneered amongst other things the charter of super tankers (at the time 50/60,000 DWT was the largest) – the first among many was the “Dan Brostom” to be cleaned of oil for the carriage of grain from USA to India under the PL 480 aid program where millions of tonnes of grain were transported to India in a very short space of time.
Venturing away he moved from New Delhi to India’s commercial, financial and major port gateway to be closer to Clients. And laid the foundation of ASG in 1976 under the name masthead “Offshore and Shipping Services” subsequently changed to Ardee Saigal Group – ASG to focus on the sourcing and supplying of the newest offshore drilling and exploration equipment and services to India as the economy grew and India needed to save precious dollars or as it is now known “Make in India” and “Invest in India” to achieve self-sufficiency in hydrocarbons, He set off contacting the best technology and service providers from a one room office using a telex machine and phone lines at a time when international telecommunications infrastructure from India was tottering. with no money in his pocket but sheer will power and common sense and armed with his military discipline and tenacity using communication methods of an era gone by such as cables, phone calls and telex machines he managed to source and convince the Western providers who were reluctant at the time to part with and provide these latest services and technologies to India despite the country’s low foreign exchange reserves.
He pioneered he Offshore industry in India’ first discovery now called the Bombay High field in the mid 1970’s by sourcing and supplying the state of the art equipment from the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico offshore drill ships, jack up rigs and semisubmersible rigs and offshore support vessels Multi-purpose vessels or MSV’s to pipe-lay barges, dredgers and construction vessels.
To help India save precious currency he substituted expensive foreign workers, and created jobs and opportunities for hundreds of Indian workers in and created skills such as Rig superintendents, engineers, tool pushers, roustabouts, electricians, motormen, stewards, cooks, seafarers, Marine and technical officers, medics, workers on platforms and so on by training them onboard the vessels but sourcing them from India’s vastly educated and trained young pool of personnel from the Army, Navy and Airforce who had been released early. He substituted foreign catering by using Indian products on board vessels. He paved the way for customs clearances and port formalities to ensure efficient delivery and at one time ASG had over 700 people working in its offices. International standards housing was arranged for the expatriates and their families. This was a pioneering time.
Chairman's Desk
Rajiv ‘Bobby’ Saigal – As Chairman, Mr Saigal brings decades of cross-sectoral experience. Under his stewardship, ASG has retained its heritage while embracing innovation. His expertise spans strategic broking, public sector engagement, and global deal-making, ensuring continued relevance in a dynamic marketplace. He has lived and worked in UK, USA, Norway, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and UAE.