Sanjiv Mehta

London, Feb. 8: The East India Company, whose brand name and controlling interests were acquired by diamond dealer Sanjiv Mehta in 2005, is to open a flagship luxury store in London’s Mayfair.

Mehta, 46, who has lived in the UK for 20 years, told The Telegraph that the East India Company was an instantly recognisable and available global brand name which he wished to develop to sell “luxury goods”.

“How much it would have cost me to develop such a brand name from scratch I do not know?” he wondered.

Mehta added: “I will begin with fine foods — tea, coffee, chocolate, marmalade — mainly sourced in the UK, apart from tea, which will come from India, but inspired by the East India Company. But I will add linen, chintz, other fabric, furniture and books and open other stores in the UK, Japan, the Middle East and the Continent.”

Mehta explained how the East India Company had once imported many items from its former colony into Britain. Liberty, which is distinguished to this day by its dark beams on its exterior facade, opened to the public on May 15, 1875, when thefounder, Arthur Lasenby Liberty, purchased the lease on a half-shop inRegent Street to which he gave the grand name ‘East India House’. Mehta's own store will be just a few minutes walk away.

He admitted he was not a historian — “I wish I was” — but he had soaked up the history of the company as he had developed his plans over the past five years.

He had discovered, for example, that its records, now kept at the British Library, “stretches to over 10 miles”.

The company’s Indian headquarters were in Calcutta and the UK one in Leadenhall Street in the City. This is now the site of the Lloyds Building.

A note from Mehta’s company issued today pointed out: “The East India Company was dissolved in 1874 and became the property of the Crown. Over a century later, a group of visionary entrepreneurs brought the brand back to life, with permissions granted by the Treasury to use the name and original trademarks of the company.”

It went: “CEO Sanjiv Mehta acquired the entire business in 2005, affording him the opportunity to reinvigorate the brand for the modern consumer. With $15-million investments to date and the company now in Indian hands, the vision is to restore the East India Company to its former glory. Despite being over 400 years old, the East India Company is one of the most recognised brands in the world: over two billion people know of its history. It once employed a third of the British workforce and was responsible for 50 per cent of global trade.”

The new store will be located at 8/9 Conduit Street near the junction with Regent Street. Its designed mosaic floor will recall times past when the company paved the way for British control of India.

Some will detect irony in the reversal of roles, though Mehta is quick to explain that what he has acquired is a name, valuable though that is.

According to the businessman, “this once powerful brand can bring together its heritage, origins and products like no other organisation in the world. The group will see further portfolio launches designed to build on the authenticity and heritage of the brand including drinks, homeware, furniture, publishing, hospitality and hotels.”

In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter for ‘The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’, making it responsible for bringing tea, coffee and luxury goods to the West and spreading spices across the globe.

By 1757, the East India Company had become a powerful arm of the British establishment with its own armed forces, fleets and currency as well as controlling Calcutta, Madras and Bengal. But by 1874, the Government of India Act transferred the East India Company powers to the Crown and its business was effectively dissolved.

“Without the Company, our world would not be as it is today,” said Mehta.