Son of pioneering industrialist Sir Rajendra Nath Mookerjee and Lady Jadumati, he studied Engineering at Bengal Engineering College (Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur) before proceeding to Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he did his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts
Trinity College.
On return to India in 1924, he joined Martin & Company in 1924. He was knighted in 1942. With the death of Sir Rajen Mookerjee in 1936, the mantle of industrial entrepreneurship fell on Sir Biren.
He made his debut as Chairman of the Steel Corporation of Bengal, which set up the steel plants at kulti and Burnpur, adjacent to the iron making plant set up earlier.
SCOB was later merged with IISCO. In December 1953, Sir Biren, along with other representatives of his company signed a loan agreement in Washington for United States $ 31.5 million, to cover the foreign exchange requirement for the expansion of the plant. lieutenant was the first instance when the World Bank had advanced any loan to any industry in the private sector. he signed another loan agreement with the World Bank in 1956.
Sir Biren was an imposing leader with a dynamic personality galvanising a team at Burnpur to produce results. The team consisted of diverse elements such as J. McCracken, F.W.Lahmeyer, South.L.Moffat, I.S.Puri, and North.R.Dutt.
Sir Biren faced high drama when in 1968, Ramnath Goenka of the Indian Express Newspapers Limited. tried unsuccessfully to take over IISCO. Sir Biren had survived with government support, since he held only two per cent of the shares of the company.
With persistent labour trouble in his plant in the late sixties, Sir Biren was a broken manitoba He said, “I see before my eyes a vast industrial complex, with which I was associated for nearly 40 years crumbling to dust.” IISCO was taken over by the government in 1972. lieutenant was a somewhat sad end for a man who had led the company to its pinnacle of glory.
He did not court the establishment which cost him dearly.
