Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s3.t12.3

v1.c5.s3.t12.3

H N Mody arrived in Hong Kong in 1860 (some sources say in 1858) from Bombay on the suggestion of his uncle, Jehangirjee Buxey, to help him with his auction business. In the 1860s, he appears to have worked in the opium trading firm of S A Seth and also the Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan before taking over the auction house of his uncle after the latter’s death. While working in the bank, Mody got acquainted with the Calcutta Armenian Catchik Paul Chater with whom he formed a highly successful business partnership later under the name of Chater & Mody in 1868. It ventured into share brokerage and also into real estate. Early on, they realised the potential of Kowloon on the mainland opposite Hong Kong island and heavily invested in property and development in Kowloon. Today, there exist a Mody Road and Mody Square in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui area, named after H N Mody. Chater & Mody was famed for its harbour development and land reclamation schemes in Kowloon and Hong Kong including the Praya Reclamation scheme along the northern waterfront of Hong Kong island.