From Culcutta to Turin: The saga of RPG Group.
What does a cable manufacturing company in Turin, Italy has to do with tea plantations in Munnar? Well, CEAT's history does not start on 1924, when the company was established, but a century ago, in 1820, at the city of Culcutta. Ramdutt Goenka, a Rajasthani Marwari started to do business with the British East India Company in Culcutta, and became the most influential family till the independence, after the Birlas. 24 years later, in 1844, the Harrison brothers, Daniel and Smith, and Joseph Crosfield started a partnership, called the Harrisons & Crosfield. They traded tea and coffee from China and South America, till 1900, where they came to India and purchased extensive land in South India and Ceylon. This was their start to dominate the tea market for nearly a century. In 1907, Harrison formed the East India Tea and Produce Company, the Malayalam Rubber and Produce Company, and Meppadi Wynaad Tea Company Ltd. In 1922, a British equipment manufacturing company, started its m
