Who dont know the famous advertisement jingle of late nineties “Give Me Red” by Eveready Batteries. The man behind, Veteran industrialist Brij Mohan Khaitan, popularly known as Briju Babu, famous for his business acquisitions, passed away on 1st of June 2019. B M Khaitan was the Chairman of Eveready Industries, one of Khaitan Group’s flagships and the largest dry cell battery-maker in India. He had resigned but had been shortly re-appointed Chairman Emeritus. He was also the chairman of Williamson Magor, which he rescued from extinction and restored into a mighty firm. He also led Mcnally Bharat Engineering and Kilburn Engineering, apart from running the world’s largest tea producer Williamson Magor.
Born on 14 August 1927 B M Khaitan graduated in commerce from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He was introduced to Williamson Magor, a prestigious multidivisional company, by Richard Magor, where he began supplying tea chests and fertilizers.
In 1961, when the company faced a takeover threat when B Bajoria acquired a 25% stake in Bishnauth Tea Company, the flagship of Williamson Magor Tea Estates- just 1% behind Williamson Magor. At this crucial juncture, Khaitan provided to buy out Bajoria’s shares. In 1963, he was invited to join the board of the company. The next year, B M Khaitan was appointed the managing director of Williamson Magor, eventually becoming chairman. Under his leadership, the company would reach new heights.
In 1987, Khaitan bought the rights to Russell McLeod Group, which made Williamson Magor the largest tea producer in the world. At its peak, Khaitan’s tea empire covered almost 40,000 hectares of land, spreading across countries such as Vietnam, Uganda, and Rwanda, apart from India, employing over 90,000 workers and producing more than 100 million kilos of tea. B.M. Khaitan maintained, “Tea is not a mere commodity for us. It is a heritage based on values and culture full of sentiments and commitments.”
However, it was not his vast tea empire, but a tryst with Eveready that brought him into the limelight.
Eveready Industries India was founded in 1934 as a subsidiary of Union Carbide India. In the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the American company was keen to get rid of Eveready, but the Indian government had frozen ownership changes until a compensation package was announced ten years later. Khaitan fought bitterly with Nuslia Wadia of Bombay Dyeing to appropriate ownership of Eveready, eventually acquiring the company in 1994 for Rs. 300 crore (US$ 96.5 million)- the biggest buy-out deal in Indian corporate history at that point of time. Eveready would become one of the strongholds of Khaitan’s business regime.
B M Khaitan also served as the President of International Chamber of Commerce Indian National Committee between 1986 and 1987 and was a founder Member of the International Management Institute New Delhi. He was also elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Directors UK. He was also the chairman of Williamson Tea Assam from July 13, 2005, and an independent director of CESC from May 1994 till May 2018.
In her 1996 book Business Maharajas, author Gita Piramal had written, “[Khaitan] may not be a Dhirubhai Ambani, but then neither is he a Ratan Tata or Kumar Mangalam Birla, both heirs to mammoth empires. In a span of two decades, BM aggressively assembled [a] 16 billion-rupee empire.” Today, the Williamson Magor Group is worth over Rs.50 billion, or 5000 crores.
According to many industrialists, it was Khaitan’s zeal and business acumen which put his business realm at the top. “He was one of the business promoters who saw business and social welfare together and actively supported many social initiatives,” said Rajeev Singh, the Director of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. The Indian Tea Association described him as “one of the last stalwarts in the tea industry amongst the old guard.”
In 2013, BM Khaitan was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Chamber of Commerce. We pay tribute to this incredible Machine Maker, who made a difference not just in India, but globally.
