J. Rajmohan Pillai (born 12 May 1964) is an Indian businessman, and is currently the chairman of Beta Group.

Early life

Rajmohan Pillai was born in

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and educated in the state capital

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. He gained management experience with his family's business in 1981.

Beta Group

Beta Group is a diversified transnational business group with a

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

turnover. The group’s vertical subsidiaries include packaged processed foods manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. The Group also claims interests in entertainment, logistics, and business consulting. The group began in the early 1900s as Beta Industries, an exporter of

cashew nut The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree native to South America in the genus ''Anacardium'' that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as tall as , but the dwarf cult ...

s. The company is based in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is one of the world's largest cashew nut companies. Rajmohan Pillai formed the Beta Group as a conglomerate of nine companies in memory of his eldest brother, Kerala businessman

Rajan Pillai Rajan Pillai (1947 – 7 July 1995) was an Indian businessman, popularly known as the 'Biscuit Baron'. He died in custody four days after his arrest, largely because he was denied medical treatment while in custody; the subsequent investigations ...

, former chairman of

Britannia Industries Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian company specialised in food industry, part of the Wadia Group headed by Nusli Wadia. Founded in 1892 and headquartered in Kolkata, it is one of India's oldest existing companies and best known for it ...

, whose death in 1995 closed what ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bus ...

'' referred to as one of India's most dramatic corporate sagas. Today, while still essentially a cashew products company, the Beta Group has diversified into fruit drinks, almonds, dates, and pistachios. The group owns the dry fruit and nut brands, Nut King and Ole.

Pillai's management

Pillai's previously declared intentions for the group have included: *waging a "cashew-nut war", matching the price of potato chips marketed by

multinational companies A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

in India (2000) *entering the

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

and

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de J ...

sectors (2006) *purchasing the

Barista Coffee Barista is a chain of espresso bars and cafes that operates in the Indian subcontinent. It is headquartered in New Delhi, India, and maintains outlets across India, and in other regional countries such as Sri Lanka, and Maldives Maldive ...

chain (2006) (it was purchased instead by

Lavazza Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. (), shortened and stylized as LAVAZZA, is an Italian manufacturer of coffee products. Founded in Turin in 1895 by Luigi Lavazza, it was initially run from a small grocery store at Via San Tommaso 10. The business (Italian: ...

) *diversification including a million

desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...

plant in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

(2006) *opening an aviation academy in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

(2007) *resurrecting the Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) Academy, a former Chennai center of excellence, in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, Kerala, as Beta Ace Technique (BAT) Tennis Academy

Social foundations

He was instrumental in establishing the ''KJP Research Foundation'', named in honor of his late father, K. Janardhanan Pillai. The Foundation conducts research and development in the fields of cashew and other horticultural crops. He also established the ''Rajan Pillai Foundation'' in memory of his brother

, to promote excellence in arts, sports, social sciences, and medicine, serving the cause of humanity. The Rajan Pillai Foundation institutes and presents awards to accomplished individuals in

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

services, and industry development.

Legal cases

Pillai, as

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Pace International Ltd, was one of four men convicted of fraud over a

letter of credit A letter of credit (LC), also known as a documentary credit or bankers commercial credit, or letter of undertaking (LoU), is a payment mechanism used in international trade to provide an economic guarantee from a creditworthy bank to an exp ...

in 2008. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined but appealed the convictionSee Criminal appeal case 2951 of 2008
High Court of Kerala case status
Status: Pending. Case updated 4 December 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2018. and the sentences have been suspended until the appeal is resolved. Pillai was arrested in

for allegedly raping his domestic help in 2017. The police started investigating him after his help, a 23-year-old from

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, showed up at a private hospital for an abortion. She was reportedly two months pregnant.

Thesis and Publications

In 2006, he was awarded a doctorate in business management by the New Age International University of

Seborga Seborga ( lij, A Seborca) is a small village and self-proclaimed principality in the region of Liguria near the French border. Administratively, it is a ''comune'' of the Italian province of Imperia. The main economic activities are horticulture ...

, Italy, (a

diploma mill A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fa ...

unlicensed by any Italian or European authority which is an offshoot of the Institute of Education, Research & Development,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

) for a thesis that chronicled the history of the global cashew industry. His other published works are: * ''A Wasted Death'' – a book on the rise and fall of Rajan Pillai, co-authored with K. Govindan Kutty (

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

book about the life of Pillai's father. Co-authored with V. S. Nair (Current Books, 2002). * ''The World Cashew Industry'' – a book detailing all aspects of the production, processing, and trading of cashews. Co-authored with Mrs. P. Santha, a relative and former principal scientist with the

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

(Rajan Pillai Foundation, Kollam, 2008). The book incorporates several chapters of Pillai's thesis. * ''Siddharthan'' – a novel on the life of Rajan Pillai narrating his material life and spiritual transformation.

Awards

He was awarded the

Vayalar Ramavarma Vayalar Ramavarma (March 25, 1928 – October 27, 1975), also known as Vayalar, was an Indian poet and lyricist of Malayalam language. He was known for his poems which include ''Sargasangeetham'', ''Mulankaadu'', ''Padamudrakal'', ''Aayisha'' a ...

Samskarika Vedi award for the year 2019 for his book ''Siddharthan''.

References

External links

Beta Empire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Rajmohan 1964 births Living people Businesspeople from Kerala People using unaccredited degrees