The man behind Punjab's Texla TV, Raja Singh Oberoi, dies at 90

Raja Singh Oberoi, founder of Texla television, and the man who introduced affordable TV sets in the 1980s, has died at 90.

The owner of GRD Academy and Club Nirwana passed away on February 28.

His son, Kawaljit Oberoi, said though his father was not formally educated, he was a visionary.

He said that before launching Texla, his father had launched Jupiter Radios in 1961. These radios were reasonably priced and gained immense popularity. “Texla went on to dominate the Punjab market, capturing nearly 95 per cent of the TV market share. My father never had any formal education, but his hard work and dedication brought him success,” Kawaljit said.

His two brothers, Inderjit Oberoi and Sukhwinder Oberoi, manage the family business in Dehradun, he said.

Early life

Raja Singh was born on February 19, 1936 at Hillan village in Mirpur near Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan. In 1947, the family migrated to India.

His first venture, Jupiter Radios, launched in 1961, achieved an annual sales of 1.5 lakh radio sets. Texla entered the television market in 1972 and in 15 years was manufacturing more than 3 lakh TV sets annually.

As Texla flourished, Raja Singh turned towards philanthropy. He established ‘Sarab Sanjhi Gurbani’, a unit dedicated to producing audio and video cassettes promoting Gurbani.

Besides broadcasting devotional music programmes on popular radio and television channels, the organisation also printed and distributed posters, booklets and other material to spread the teachings of the gurus.