The Panchamia Family

The history of the company and how it evolved to be a brand that inspires is a story that is both rare and worth telling...

Girdharlal Govindji Panchamia was born in the year 1924. At just eighteen years of age, he decided to join the pool of optical traders that swarmed around him, going about their daily duties, fascinating him with their day-to-day business. This led to a life-long connection with a craft that Gidhubhai, grew to master and adore, the open-mindedness with which he embraced the endless possibilities that this profession held.

There held promise in a young mind that was keen to learn and experiment in the unknown. It was the early 1940s and Girdharlal Govindji Panchamia’s time working at United Optical allowed him to pick up snippets of wholesale and retail trading and the experience proved to be rewarding. He was able to understand the world of lenses and frames in a much more definitive sense because of this exposure.

In 1946, Gidhubhai, invited his brother-in-law to join him at United Optical. Bachubhai Tolia agreed and joined the business. 15 years later, having an understanding of the system and the functionality of the trade as a whole, Gidhubhai and Bachubhai felt that it was time for them to evolve with the changes that were developing around them.

Their business PTK Corporation – P stood for Panchamia, T for Tolia and K for Kothari, who came in as a financier for the business. PTK did most of its business in cities like Delhi, Calcutta, Madras (Chennai) and Ahmedabad.