Indian-born British businessman Sanjiv Mehta, who bought the East India Company in 2005, is relaunching the world’s first multinational firm more than 400 years after it was set up by opening a flagship store in Conduit Street, near Regent Street, in London on Saturday.

Mr Mehta, who moved to the UK in 1988, is passionate about recreating the past glory of East India Company and has spent five years and more than $15 million to research the famous trading company, which at height of its influence controlled half of the world trade.
The London flagship store will sell teas, coffees, chocolates, food gifts, gourmet food and luxuries made mostly in Britain, but influenced from tastes, cultures and traditions from around the world, especially India, where the East India Company reached the zenith of its power.
Unwilling to reveal how much he paid for the brand name, Mr Mehta told this newspaper in an interview that he bought the brand from 30-40 people. The ambitious Mumbai-born businessman has huge plans for the East India Company.
“I could see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. To get an audience of two billion people in the world who recognise the brand name was an amazing discovery,” said Mr Mehta, who has trivia and all details about the trading company at his fingertips.
So passionate is Mr Mehta about his company that he even knows details about each and every label being used for his products, and all these have an intimate connection with the history of the East India Company.
Explaining that he did not foresee any negative connotations of the East India Company name, especially in India where the company ruled for over a century, Mr Mehta said: “We plan to highlight the positives, and the East India Company did give us a lot of positives like infrastructure, railway, food... We don’t plan to have a military force or lay claim to old ownership rights.”
The East India Company had its own army, ships and currency, and owned swathes of territory in India and Southeast Asia at the height of its glory. However, after the 1857 uprising, the Crown took over control of the dominions under the company, and the latter slowly began to decline, finally being dissolved in 1874 with just a small part remaining which continued tea and coffee trade.
Mr Mehta, in an earlier interview, told this newspaper that he eventually plans to open flagship stores in New Delhi and Mumbai too.
“The product range for India is being developed right now,” he said, and added he was also in discussions with potential franchise partners and potential investors to develop the business in India. Mr Mehta, who visits Mumbai every month, said he is keen to move back to Mumbai once he has developed and launched his business.
The relaunch of the East India Company brand is following the same path as the trading company formed on December 31, 1600, said Mr Mehta, adding that some of the ingredients will be sourced from India.
Mr Mehta plans to start home stores, drinks business, publishing, design studios, sailing clubs, jewellery, music and real estate ventures under the brand name East India Company. “The businesses will cover all aspects of the six human senses,” he said. “The idea is to build each of the businesses and launch and run the companies separately,” he added.
Starting with fine and exotic foods, Mr Mehta plans to open a store or a related luxury business every six to nine months, and aims to have different luxury businesses under the brand name. Admitting that his plans were not easy to implement, Mr Mehta said: “I know that it’s not an easy road and it’s not a one man’s job. I am just a trustee of this historical name, (which) I want to restore to its original glory.”