The genesis of idea of forming WORLD JAIN CONFEDERATION (WJC) was the speech of Late Shri N.A. Palkhiwala at a conference of one of the Jain institutions when he mentioned that the 21st century will be a Century of Jains. The Philanthropic personalities from Jain community got together and had consultations with like minded friends in India and abroad to bring this prophecy into a reality. Consequently, WJC was set up in Mumbai in 2001 as an act of faith, a symbol of hope and dedication, commitment to the ancient Jain tradition and the world wide Jain community for bringing about harmony between various religions and peace and harmony in the world to stop the path of self destruction and ensure survival on this planet which is very much in jeopardy.

WJC was launched in Mumbai, by our then H'ble Prime Minister Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the 2600th Bhagwan Mahavir Janma Kalyanak Mahotsav on 8th April 2001. At that meeting, Shri Vajpayee expressed a desire that we should organize Inter Faith Conferences from time to time to propagate mainly three tenets of Bhagwan Mahavir viz. Ahimsa (Non-Violence) Anekant (Multifaceted view of Reality) and Aparigraha (Restraint in Consumption & Accumulation. These messages were very relevant to fight the forces of evil such as communalism, terrorism, fundamentalism, consumerism and non environmentalism.

WJC was fully operational from March 2002 after receiving all the Registrations and Certificates from Various Government Authorities. The Founder Members and Trustees of this Organization were Late Dr L.M. Singhvi, M.P., eminent Jurist, great Philosopher and Ex-High Commissioner to the UK as the President, Shri Pratap Bhogilal as the Chairman and Dr. N.P. Jain of lndore and our Ex Ambassador to Belgium and E.C. as the Executive President. Shri Jitendra S. Kothari was appointed as Secretary General and Shri Subhash Runwal as Treasurer.