Britannia. Apart from biscuits, the name stirs up associations with Britain and you would be forgiven for thinking it was a brand with roots in that country. However, the Britannia Industries of today started off as a home bakery in Kolkata in 1892, making biscuits for officers of the British Raj and their families. After being acquired by the Chugh Brothers and their partnering later with an Englishman called C H Holmes, it was renamed The Britannia Biscuit Company Ltd.
There are many Indian companies with Western names that were founded in India, and not by Westerners, though some derive their name from those associations. Cosmetics brand Lakme, now owned by Hindustan Unilever, originally belonged to Tata Oil Mills. JRD Tata named this brand after a character in a French opera of the same name. In the opera, Lakme (French for the Sanskrit name Lakshmi) is the daughter of a Hindu priest. The opera is set in the 19th century British Raj.
The Raymond brand belongs to the JK group has its origins in a wool mill built in Thane in 1925. Built by a member of the Wadia family, it made clothes for soldiers of the Indian Defence Forces. However, it passed on to E D Sassoon & Co, which renamed it Raymond Woolen Mills, for its Board of Directors members Albert Raymond and Abraham Jacob Raymond. The JK group took over the mill in 1944.
Then there are some Indian companies that have christened their brands with foreign names to cash in on the aspirational quotient. Garments brand Monte Carlo seems to have nothing to do with the area or casino of the same name in the principality of Monaco; it belongs to Oswald Woollen Mills of Ludhiana. American Swan is a Gurgaon-based company that calls itself an International online fashion and lifestyle brand that combines urban American lifestyle with a youthful spirit.
Crockery brand La Opala derives its name from the opal glass it is made from. A note on its website says opal glass was originally a French discovery, and was considered rare and difficult to create.
The name for leather goods brand Da Milano was chosen by a family running a fashion business in Milan, Italy, according to Sahil Malik, its Managing Director. He says the company was started by his father Surender malik and they have “taken over the name from them as our brand is an inspiration from Italy”. The brand has a design team in Florence, Italy and in India.
Compiled by Sravanthi Challapalli