Anand Mahindra's company bought a minority stake in the East India Company in 2013
Anand Mahindra, whose company bought a minority stake in the East India Company nearly a decade ago, said he was delighted to have played a part in "turning history upside down". Mr Mahindra was responding to a viral Twitter thread on the the East India Company, which once ruled over India and became synonymous with British colonialism - until it was bought by Indian-origin businessman Sanjiv Mehta decades after independence. The Mahindra Group later acquired a minority stake in the company and Anand Mahindra said it was "energizing" to see it in Indian hands.
In his Twitter thread, author and tech expert Jaspreet Bindra gave a short history of the East India Company and spoke about the Indian businessman who bought it in the early 2000s. The EIC was bought by Mumbai-born entrepreneur Sanjiv Mehta, whose recent meeting with Mr Bindra inspired 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.
"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," Mr Bindra continued.
As per the Guardian, Mr Mehta had bought the entire company by 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," Mr Mehta said on the acquisition, according to a post on the East India Company's website.
Mr Bindra further spoke about Mahindra Group acquiring a minority stake in EIC.
Responding to his Twitter thread, Anand Mahindra thanked Mr Bindra for encapsulating the story of the East India Company. "Thank you for encapsulating why we were delighted to be part of turning history upside down," wrote the chairman of Mahindra Group. "Something energizing about seeing THIS Company in Indian hands..."
His tweet has registered more than 700 'likes' and a ton of comments.
"Interesting information," wrote one person in the comments section. "Karma completes its circle," said another.
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