- Business
- Gillanders Arbuthnot and Company Limited engages primarily in the production and sale of tea, manufacturing of yarns, engineering fabrication and erection services, and property ownership in India. The company manufactures and markets Assam and Dooars quality teas from its gardens in the Himalayan foothills and Brahmaputra regions; produces cotton, acrylic, polyester, viscose, modal blended, and staple yarns through its textiles division; provides engineering services via its MICCO unit, including steel fabrication, pre-fabricated structures, blast furnaces, continuous casting machines, reheat furnaces, gas holders, piping, and technological structures for bridges, towers, and industrial equipment, with exports to countries such as South Africa, Bangladesh, Zambia, and Nigeria; and owns the prominent Gillander House, a four-storied commercial building at Netaji Subhas Road in Kolkata housing leading banks and corporate offices. Incorporated on February 1, 1935, as a limited company under the Indian Companies Act VII of 1913 and headquartered at Gillander House, C-4, Netaji Subhas Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, the company originated as a 19th-century partnership firm by F.M. Gillanders and G.C. Arbuthnot and became part of the Kothari Group of Companies in the late 1960s, operating through segments in tea plantations, textiles, engineering, and property with branches in Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi. Recent developments include the re-appointment and re-designation of Mahesh Sodhani as Managing Director and CEO for three years effective April 1, 2024, following the release of Manoj Sodhani from his role as Executive Director and CEO on March 31, 2024; ongoing board meetings in 2025 for financial approvals, including on May 9, February 7, and August 7; a 22.9% revenue decline in the financial year ended 2024 and a 33.58% drop in consolidated net profit for the September 2025 quarter; and historical restructurings such as the 2016 transfer of its chemical (Waldies) division to Barfani Builder Limited via a sanctioned scheme of arrangement, along with prior overseas tea estate acquisitions in Malawi through subsidiaries.