Indian Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday is conferring Lifetime Achievement Award to Brij Mohan Khaitan, Chairman of Williamson Magor & Co Ltd, the holding company of the McLeod Russel, world’s largest tea producer.
“I am very happy to receive the award … But I really don’t know if I deserve this”, the active, but reticent 86-year-old told Business Line.
Known in global tea circles as the “evergreen tea man of India”, exactly 30 years ago on this day had almost lost his life in a blast in London.
But by then he had established his Tea Empire in Assam. Later on, he went onto extend his tea geography to Uganda, Rwanda and Vietnam.
Born in a family of lawyers (Khaitan & Co) and from a supplier of tea chest and fertiliser to the British planters, Khaitan made the tea industry “Indian-owned” in the twilight era of the independence.
According to his business associates, all along his life he nourished a culture that over the couple of centuries developed into a heritage; a way of life in tea plantations.
According to Khaitan: “Tea is not a mere commodity for us. It is a heritage based on values and culture full of sentiments and commitments”.
Amritanshu Khaitan, his grandson and Director of the group companies -- McNally Bharat and Eveready, said he always sought to give more to the tea people and considered them as part of the extended family.