Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia

Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia was a Parsi from Surat, India and was a member of the Wadia family of shipwrights and naval architects, who founded Wadia Group in 1736.

Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia was a Parsi shipbuilder from 18th century Surat, an important trading place of the English East India Company (EIC).The foreign traders knew of his high standards for shipbuilding workmanship and in 1736 the EIC secured his services for building docks and ships in Bombay. The same year Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia founded the Wadia Group when he opened a Marine Construction Company. Together with his brother Sorabji he constructed the first dry-dock in Bombay, also the first dry-dock in Asia, in 1750. For it Lovji has rightly been called the founder of the shipping industry in Bombay. He passed away in 1774, and his sons Maneckji and Bomanji built on his reputation of integrity, industry and ability.