 "Deepak Khaitan")
Deepak Khaitan, non-executive vice-chairman, Williamson Magor group, and eldest son of Brij Mohan Khaitan, died this morning after a prolonged illness. He was 58, and is survived by his wife, Yashodhara Khaitan, and son, Amritanshu Khaitan.
Though most people associate Deepak Khaitan with battery maker Eveready Industries India, he restored the group's position as the world's largest bulk tea producer. A couple of years earlier, Brij Mohan had reminisced in a house journal that Deepak was responsible for bringing George Williamson back into the group in 2004, a move that put the Khaitan group and its plantations company, McLeod Russel India, back on the world map.
George Williamson was a company controlled by the Magor family but managed by the Khaitans. The Khaitan-Magor relationship dates back to 1933, when Philip Magor's father, Richard Magor, introduced him to the group. It had its fair share of twists and turns in the years that followed.
'Briju' Khaitan (as he is popularly referred to) supplied tea chests and fertilisers to the company. In 1961, when a crisis loomed over Williamson Magor & Company, Khaitan came in as white knight. In 2001, however, Khaitan and the Magors split and with it went some of the best estates under George Williamson Assam and a sizeable slice of production from the group portfolio.
Four years later, courtesy Deepak Khaitan's business acumen, the wheel turned a full circle; the Khaitans bought out the Magor family from George Williamson Assam. The deal happened at a time when most companies like Hindustan Unilever and Tata Tea were paring exposure in plantations.
On the surface, it looked like it made business sense to acquire the plantations, widely considered to be the best in the sector, but anyone who knew Deepak Khaitan would think it was an emotional decision that might only have paid off eventually.
Emotions had worked for Deepak Khaitan on other fronts as well. A horse racing enthusiast, Deepak's favourite was Elusive Pimpernel. Some years before he had said, "It was a horse no one wanted to buy." But he did, and Elusive Pimpernal went on to win Rs 10 million stake money and boasted of five track records.
Though always at the helm of the group's battery business, Eveready Industries India, Deepak's passion for the plantations stemmed from an engagement that dated back to his early days. He had lived in two of Magor's estates and it was here that he learnt the ropes of tea business.
His involvement with Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL), however, was more on a day-to-day basis. EIIL became a part of the Khaitan group through McLeod Russel in the latter half of 1994 following the sale of Union Carbide Corporation's stake in UCIL. Primarily, a battery company, Khaitan brought packet tea brands under the Eveready portfolio to leverage its distribution network.
At the time of acquisition, Eveready's battery production capacity was 450 million pieces per annum, which grew significantly over time. In 2005, Khaitan acquired BPL Soft Energy Systems and added a capacity of 240 million batteries. Today, Eveready is one of the largest manufacturers of dry cell batteries, with annual capacity of 1.2 billion batteries.
Apart from the battery business under Eveready and plantations under McLeod Russel (demerged from EIIL in 2004), the other significant companies under Khaitan's supervision were McNally Bharat Engineering and Kilburn Engineering.
Following his prolonged illness and the need for medical supervision, Deepak Khaitan stepped down from his executive role in 2011 but not before ensuring a turnaround for Eveready, once steeped in debt, and putting McLeod Russel on the world map.
