Rajmohan Pillai
Encyclopedia
Dr. J. Rajmohan Pillai (born May 12, 1964) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n businessman, currently the Chairman of Beta Group.
Early life
Rajmohan Pillai was born in KollamKollam
Kollam , often anglicized as ', is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city lies on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake on the Arabian sea coast and is situated about north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, South India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and educated in the state capital Trivandrum.
Beta Group
Beta Group is a diversified transnational business group with $2 billion turnover and one of the largest players in food processing in South East Asia. The group’s vertical subsidiariesVertical integration
In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
include packaged processed foods manufacturing, marketing and distribution, entertainment, logistics, business consulting, private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
financing and research for health.
The group began in the early 1900s as Beta Industries, an exporter of cashew nuts. The company is based in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. 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 brother, Kerala businessman K. Rajan Pillai, former chairman of Britannia Industries, whose death in 1995 closed what The Economic Times
The Economic Times
The Economic Times is an English-language Indian daily newspaper published by the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.. The Economic Times was started in 1961. It is the most popular and widely read financial daily in India, read by more than 8 lakh people...
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. The Group also claims interests in logistics and business consulting.
Pillai's management
Pillai's previous declared intentions for the group have included:- waging a "cashew-nut war", matching the price of potato chips marketed by multinational companies in India (2000)
- entering the pharmaceutical and hospitalityHospitality industryThe hospitality industry consists of broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry. The hospitality industry is a several billion dollar industry...
sectors (2006) - purchasing the Barista CoffeeBarista Coffee (India)Barista Lavazza is a chain of espresso bars in India. Headquartered in Noida, Barista currently has espresso bars across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Middle East. It was founded in 1997 by Amit Judge and was part of his group of companies. He sold part of the equity to first Tata Coffee....
chain (2006) (it was purchased instead by LavazzaLavazzaLuigi Lavazza S.p.A. 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 of Lavazza S.p.A. is currently administered by the third and fourth generation of the Lavazza family.-...
) - diversification including a $200 million desalinationDesalinationDesalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water...
plant in Tamil NaduTamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
(2006) - opening an aviation academy in Malaysia (2007)
Social Foundations
He was instrumental in establishing the KJP Research FoundationPrivate foundation
A private foundation is a legal entity set up by an individual, a family or a group of individuals, for a purpose such as philanthropy. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion in assets...
, named in honor of his late father, K. J. 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
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, social welfare services and industry development.
Legal case
Rajmohan Pillai, as MD of Pace International Ltd, was one of four men convicted of fraudFraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
over a letter of credit
Letter of credit
A standard, commercial letter of credit is a document issued mostly by a financial institution, used primarily in trade finance, which usually provides an irrevocable payment undertaking....
in 2008. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined Rs 200,000, but appealed the conviction and the sentences have been suspended until the appeal is resolved.
Thesis & publications
In 2006 he was awarded a Doctorate in Business Management by the New Age International UniversityNew Age International University
The New Age International University is a University of Seborga, a small town in the region of Liguria in northwest Italy, Europe. It is licensed by the Department of Education of the Principality of Seborga, a micronation located within Liguria. However, it is not recognised as an accredited...
of Seborga
Principality of Seborga
The Principality of Seborga is a micronation located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border, and in sight of Monaco....
, Europe (an offshoot of the Institute of Education, Research & Development, Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
) 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 BooksPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, 2001, ISBN 9780141006017; subsequently translated and published in five Indian languages).
- K. Janardhanan Pillaiyude Jeevitham Daivathinte Nadakom - A Malayalam 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 ResearchIndian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndian Council of Agricultural Research , New Delhi, India is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India...
(Rajan Pillai Foundation, Kollam, 2008). The book incorporates several chapters of Pillai's thesis.