McLeod Russel India Ltd is an Indian tea company. It is currently the world's largest
tea growing
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
company.
It is part of the Williamson Magor Group. It has Thirty One tea estates in the
Brahmaputra Valley
The Brahmaputra Valley is a region situated between hill ranges of the eastern and northeastern Himalayan range in Eastern India.
The valley consists of the Western Brahmaputra Valley covering the regions of Goalpara and Kamrup; the Central ...
of
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
and Two in the
Dooars
The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...
region of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
, three factories in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
and six estates in
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
.
McLeod Russel produces more than 90 million kilograms of quality black tea every year which reaches millions of tea lovers worldwide.
History
The tale of McLeod Russel began in 1869 when Captain J.H. Williamson and Richard Boycott Magor, two Calcutta-based Englishmen, formed a partnership firm, Williamson Magor & Company, to service the requirements of tea estates in Assam. Brij Mohan Khaitan, who had a long-standing relationship with the Company by virtue of being the principal supplier of Packaging Materials and Fertilizers, was invited to join the Board of Directors in 1963. Mr. B. M. Khaitan eventually became the Managing Director in 1964 and took the Company to new heights.
Over the next half century, the McLeod Russel group has grown and acquired a number of well-established and internationally recognised tea companies, including Williamson Tea Assam, Doom Dooma Tea Company, Moran Tea Company in India, Phu Ben Tea Company in Vietnam and Rwenzori Tea Investments.
It has another subsidiary in Uganda, Mcleod Russel Uganda Limited which cultivates, manufactures and markets tea. It was formerly known as James Finlay (Uganda) Limited. The company was founded in 1994 and is based in
Kampala
Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...
.
Shortly before the death of B.M. Khaitan in 2019, his younger son Aditya Khaitan, has taken over as chairman of McLeod Russel.
Operations
The company's corporate office is situated at 4, Mangoe Lane, Surendra Mohan Ghosh Sarani, Kolkata. As the world's largest producer of bulk tea, McLeod Russel has two state-of-the-art tea blending units - the Nilpur Blending Unit, in Assam and the Dubai Blending Unit, in Dubai. Both these blending units are extremely well-equipped with leading-edge technology, high-end machinery and an experienced staff.
Since 2018 McLeod has to deal with a liquidity crisis. It is reported that in the company's Tea Estate in Assam "most of the working community lives in penury even today".
See also
*
History of tea in India
India is one of the largest tea producers in the world, although over 70 per cent of its tea is consumed within India itself. A number of renowned teas, such as Assam and Darjeeling, also grow exclusively in India. The Indian tea industry has gro ...
*
Indian Tea Association
The Indian Tea Association is a trade association of Indian tea producers. The head office is in Kolkata (Calcutta).
History
The Association was founded in 1881 to protect the interests of tea planters in British India
The province ...
*
Tea Board of India
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and norther ...
*
Assam Tea
Assam tea is a black tea named after the region of its production, Assam, India. It is manufactured specifically from the plant ''Camellia sinensis'' var. ''assamica'' (Masters). The Assam tea plant is indigenous to Assam—initial efforts to plan ...
*
Darjeeling Tea
Darjeeling tea is a tea made from ''Camellia sinensis var. sinensis'' that is grown and processed in Darjeeling or Kalimpong Districts in West Bengal, India. Since 2004, the term ''Darjeeling tea'' has been a registered geographical indication ...
*
North Bengal Tea Industry
References
External links
*
Tea companies of India
Indian companies established in 1869
Companies based in Kolkata
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange
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