“Turning history on its head”: Anand Mahindra on his company buying stake in The East India Company

Team Udayavani, Feb 10, 2022, 11:58 AM IST

Anand Mahindra, whose company purchased a minority position in the East India Company about a decade ago, expressed his joy at being a part of “turning history on its head.” Mr. Mahindra was reacting to a trending Twitter thread on the East India Company, which previously ruled India and was associated with British colonialism until it was purchased by Indian-origin industrialist Sanjiv Mehta decades after independence. Anand Mahindra said it was “energising” to see the company in Indian hands after the Mahindra Group bought a minority investment in it.

Jaspreet Bindra, an author and IT specialist, offered a brief history of the East India Company and discussed the Indian billionaire who bought it in the early 2000s in his Twitter thread. The EIC was purchased by Sanjiv Mehta, a Mumbai-born entrepreneur whose recent meeting with Mr Bindra sparked the thread.

“The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600…The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonized parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong after the First Opium War, and maintained trading posts and colonies in the Persian Gulf,” wrote Mr Bindra.

The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonized parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong after the First Opium War, and maintained trading posts and colonies in the Persian Gulf
The rest, as they say, is history.

— Jaspreet Bindra (@j_bindra) February 6, 2022

Mr Bindra continued, “Cut to early 2000, when Indian businessman @SanjivMehta1600 actually bought out the East India Company ‘from 30 to 40 owners’, in a burst of patriotic fervor, and has built it up into a luxury business,”

Cut to early 2000, when Indian business @SanjivMehta1600 actually bought out the East India Company ‘from 30 to 40 owners’, in a burst of patriotic fervor, and has built it up into a luxury business selling teas, coffees, chocolates, other fine foods and #gin ! pic.twitter.com/I34zzFWvVx

— Jaspreet Bindra (@j_bindra) February 6, 2022

According to the Guardian, Mr. Mehta purchased the entire company in 2005. “At an emotional level as an Indian, when you think with your heart as I do, I had this huge feeling of redemption – this indescribable feeling of owning a company that once owned us,” said Mr Mehta

Mr Bindra also mentioned the Mahindra Group’s acquisition of a minority stake in EIC.

In 2013, famously, the @MahindraRise and @anandmahindra bought a minority stake in the East India Company, bringing two iconic companies together!https://t.co/gT8GBFuMNf

— Jaspreet Bindra (@j_bindra) February 6, 2022

Anand Mahindra thanked Mr Bindra for encapsulating the story of the East India Company in a Twitter thread.

He wrote, “Thank you for encapsulating why we were delighted to be part of turning history upside down,” further adding,  “Something energizing about seeing THIS Company in Indian hands…”

That’s a lot of info in one thread @j_bindra And thank you for encapsulating why we were delighted to be part of turning history upside down. Something energizing about seeing THIS Company in Indian hands… https://t.co/0HMqGzEkyl

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) February 8, 2022