 "A Tale Of Serendipity: Meet The Indian Man Who Reversed History By Buying Company That Colonized India For More Than 200 Years")
New Delhi: Call it an irony of fate or a tale of serendipity, this Indian Entrepreneur’s journey to London and procuring the East India Company is nothing short of an extraordinary narrative.
Sanjiv Mehta was born in a Gujarati family in October 1961. He had the West connect since his birth. Mehta's grandfather Gafurchand Mehta established a diamond trading business in Belgium in the 1920s. Although, eventually the family had to return to India. Sanjiv Mehta completed his school and college education in India. He attended Sydenham College in Mumbai and is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Ahmedabad. Mehta also has a degree from Gemological Institute of America in Los Angeles.
In 1980s, Mehta left for London and started his export business. He found profound success in his venture Huggie hot water bottles, which he later sold for 80,000 pounds –a capital money he subsequently used for his other businesses. By 1989, Mehta ventured into Warsaw, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Azerbaijan, and Yugoslavia, expanding his business. He attracted big companies like Unilever and Nestlé for providing supplies.
The East India Company was being attempted to be revived as a company selling tea and coffee in 2003 by a group of stockholders who owned it. For several years the East India Company remained dormant, stuck in memories and history books. Mehta became the sole owner of the East India Company in 2005 following a thorough 18-month buying spree.
East India Company, is the trading company with a 400-year-history whose highlight was ruling India the ‘jewel of the Crown’.
The company was established in 1600 by Elizabeth I, but on 1 January 1874, it was dissolved after the Government of India Act transferred its powers to the Crown. The East India Company (EIC) is one of the most recognised brands in the world. It once employed a third of the British workforce and was responsible for 50 percent of global trade.
With the acquisition of the East India Company, history had come full circle.
In 2011, the Mahindra Group acquired a minority stake in the East India Company, the global luxury brand owned by Indian-origin entrepreneur Sanjiv Mehta, who re-launched the company in London in August 2010.
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