An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion , which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(August 2024) |
Aditya Khanna | |
---|---|
Born | Delhi, India | 8 December 1971
Education | Millfield |
Alma mater | Richmond, The American International University in London |
Occupations |
|
Parent(s) | Vipin Khanna (father) Naginder Khanna (mother) |
Relatives | Khanna family |
Aditya Khanna (born 8 December 1971) is an Indian entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist. In 2020, he co-founded Faarms, an Indian technology company, which merged with Connect India E-Commerce Services in 2024 to form Bharat Supply, a logistics technology, e-commerce and financial technology company. [1] [2] [3] [4] In 2023, Khanna became a partner at Ethiopotash, a company that mines and refines sulphate of potash in Ethiopia. [5] [6] In 2024, he became a non-executive partner of Etonhurst Investment Advisors, an Indian real estate fund management firm. [7] [8]
In 1995, Khanna co-founded Tamarind Collection, a restaurant group, in London, England, and was involved with the company until 2016. [9] [10] In 2000, he was one of the founding investors of the Quintessentially Group, a British concierge company. [11] In 2001, Khanna co-founded Pipal Research, a knowledge process outsourcing company, which was sold to CRISIL in 2010. [12] [13] From 2005 to 2008, he co-founded and owned Bridge Capital Advisors, an infrastructure, power, and warehousing asset management company. [7] [14] From 2005 to 2019, Khanna founded and owned Yog Capital, an investment bank and investment company. [10] [15] In 2006, he co-sponsored TransTech Services Partners Inc, a Nasdaq Stock Market listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) which acquired a steel manufacturer in 2009. [11] [16] He was also one of the original co-owners of Punjab Kings, an Indian Premier League cricket team founded in 2008. [17]
During his early career, Khanna was linked to controversial allegations concerning oil deals and the use of political influence for business gains. [18] [19] However, these allegations were never proven, and he was cleared of all accusations. [20] [21] [18] Khanna is involved with various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and is on the advisory board of the United Nations’ UNAIDS Health Innovation Exchange (HIEx). [22] Khanna was a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) based in London, England, from 1983 to 2020, and became a resident in India in 2020. [9] [23] [7]
Aditya Khanna was born on 8 December 1971 in Delhi, India. [24] A member of the Khanna family, he is the youngest son and child of businessman Vipin Khanna and Naginder Khanna. [25] [26] [27] His mother, Naginder was the daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. [28] Khanna's three elder siblings are Vinita, Navin and Arvind. [27]
Khanna attended school at Millfield in Somerset, England, where he was head boy. [29] He attended university at Richmond, The American International University in London. [7]
Khanna began his career by joining his father, Vipin, in his Dynamic Sales Service International (DSSI) group of companies. Khanna was the managing director of DSSI and was based in DSSI's London, England, office. [30] [31] Khanna was also a director of DSSI Exports. [32] In 1996, he was involved in DSSI's trading and marketing of agricultural commodities and fertilizers. [33] In 1999, Khanna and Vipin were one of the bidders for Haryana Breweries Limited (HBL), during the company's privatisation by the Haryana Government and the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC). [34] [35]
Khanna eventually became the vice chairman of DSSI Global, and led DSSI's international operations from the company's London office. [36] [30] During his time as vice chairman of DSSI, Khanna in 2017, led a corporate delegation that met with Amarinder Singh, the Chief Minister of Punjab who was visiting London. [36] The delegation met with Singh to discuss Hera Group, an Italian utilities company, and their interest in starting an industrial waste conversion project, that would convert Punjab's industrial waste into energy and therefore help the state to lower pollution levels. [36] Khanna and Amarinder Singh are also first cousins. [28] [37]
In 1995, he and Vipin founded Tamarind, a restaurant in London that became part of the Tamarind Collection, their restaurant group. [9] [22] [38] Tamarind is an Indian restaurant in Mayfair and in 2001, became the first Indian restaurant in the United Kingdom to receive a Michelin star. [39] [40] Khanna and Vipin opened a second restaurant named Imli [9] in Soho, which was rebranded Tamarind Kitchen in 2017. [9] [41] The Tamarind Collection acquired Zaika, an Indian restaurant in Kensington, in 2013. [42] [43] He was involved in the Tamarind Collection from its founding in 1995 to 2016. [22]
In 2005, Khanna and Vipin founded FiNoble Advisors, an investment bank. [44] FiNoble Advisors had offices in New Delhi, London and New York City, and advised Indian companies that were searching for acquisitions in Europe and the United States. [44] [45] FiNoble also assisted foreign middle-market companies and financial institutions that were looking for opportunities in India. [44] [45] In 2007, 20% of FiNoble Advisors was acquired by Kaupthing Bank. [46] [47]
Khanna was one of the founding investors of the Quintessentially Group, a British luxury concierge company, founded in 2000, and was involved with the company from 2000 to 2014. [11] [22]
In 2001, Khanna co-founded Pipal Research, a knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) company, with headquarters in Chicago, and research centres in Bangalore, Noida and Gurugram. [12] [48] [49] Pipal Research was one of India's most prominent KPO companies in the research and analytics segment. [50] Pipal Research had a contract with the London Stock Exchange to produce research for investors on companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market, which the company provided through their own web portal, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg. [51] [52] Pipal Research also tested strategies and models for quantitative hedge funds, and also advised other hedge funds in their position sizing and market timing. [53] [54] The company was acquired by CRISIL in 2010. [13]
In 2005, Khanna co-founded Bridge Capital Advisors and was involved with the company until 2008. [7] [14] [55] Bridge Capital Advisors was an asset management and investment advisory company based in Singapore and had a subsidiary in India. [55] Bridge Capital Advisors primarily invested in assets and provided investment advisory services to foreign institutional investors in the Indian warehousing, infrastructure and power industries. [55] [56] The infrastructure and power assets that Bridge Capital Advisors had invested in and managed in India included two free-trade warehouse zones, a container freight station, a toll road concession, a hydro power station, and investments in other hydro power stations and wind power fields. [57]
Khanna has also founded companies and invested in ventures through his "Yog" group of companies, which he founded in 2005. [15] [10] His investment bank and private investment company, Yog Capital, offered services in mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and capital raising; however, the company did not offer Equity Capital Market services. [58] [15] The company's office was on Regent Street, in London. [59] In 2015, Yog Capital was a donor to Jo Johnson, who at the time was the Minister for Universities and Science under then-British Prime Minister Theresa May. [60] Khanna's Yog group of companies also had an IT outsourcing business. [58] In 2010, his company, Yog Sports signed a ten-year official merchandise distribution deal with the Indian Premier League and the eight original teams of the league. [61] [62] [15]
Khanna was one of the original co-owners of the Indian Premier League cricket team, Punjab Kings, which was founded Kings XI Punjab in 2008. [17] [63]
In 2020, Khanna co-founded Faarms. [1] [64] Faarms was founded as an Indian technology company that provided an e-commerce platform for India's farming community. [65] [2] The company provided products and services to farmers across India through its online marketplace platform. [66] [67] In August 2021, the company raised $2 million in a seed round that was led Koh Boon Hwee and Cornelius Boersch, among other angel investors. [2] 9Unicorns, one of India's most prominent startup accelerator platforms, also invested in Faarms in 2021. [68] In November 2021, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. [69] The collaboration with CWC allowed Faarms to leverage CWC's network of warehouses for delivering farming needs to small and marginal farmers. [69] In January 2022, Faarms signed an MoU with G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. [70] Also in January 2022, Faarms, through collaborations with other businesses, launched digitally distributed insurance products for India's rural population. [71] In April 2022, Bharat Bill Payment System and Faarms entered into a collaboration to facilitate recurring payments services. [72] In July 2022, Faarms raised $10 million from investors in a funding round. [73] In 2023, Faarms began to provide access to loans. [74]
In January 2024, Faarms' parent company, Faarms Global Tech Venture, and Connect India E-Commerce Services, a logistics technology company, merged to form Bharat Supply. [75] Connect India E-Commerce Services was part of an investment portfolio of impact investor Aavishkaar Capital. [76] [77] Bharat Supply focuses on supply chain management and providing integrated logistics services, including rail logistics, warehousing, reverse logistics, and first-mile, middle-mile and last-mile transport, for rural India. [78] Bharat Supply also operates an e-commerce marketplace platform, provides insurance services, offers banking services, and facilitates bill payment services. [79] [75] Khanna is credited as a co-founder of Bharat Supply and is a member of the company's board of directors. [75]
In 2023, Khanna became a partner and board member at natural resource company Ethiopotash, which mines and refines sulphate of potash in Ethiopia. [5] [7] [6] Ethiopotash, a subsidiary of XLR Enterprises (Cyprus), mines sulphate of potash through solution mining at the Dallol Project mine, located in the Dallol area of the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia. [80] [6] [81] In 2022, XLR Enterprises (Cyprus) acquired the Dallol Project mine from Yara International, and subsequently established Ethiopotash as a subsidiary of the company. [82] [6] Ethiopotash is headquartered in Gurugram and has branch offices in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [83]
Ethiopotash's Dallol Project mine contains one of the world's largest deposits of potash. [84] Ethiopotash's production process results in the lowest global cost for sulphate of potash. [85] [84] The Dallol mining project, operated by Ethiopotash, maintains a low carbon dioxide footprint in the sulphate of potash mining industry due to its avoidance of the Mannheim process in its production. [86] [84] Ethiopotash's mined and refined sulphate of potash is exported is exported from the Port of Tadjoura, Djibouti. [87] [88]
In 2024, Khanna became a non-executive partner and a member of the advisory board of Etonhurst Investment Advisors, an Indian real estate fund management firm based in Mumbai. [7] [80]
In 2006, Khanna co-sponsored TransTech Services Partners Inc, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol TTSM. [11] [16] In 2009, TransTech Services Partners acquired Global Hi-Tech Industries Limited (GHIL), an integrated steel producer in India. [16] In 2008, Khanna founded Global Strategic Services (GSCUBE), which provided advisory services to companies in the Indian retail industry and represented various foreign retail companies, including Energizer, in India. [11] In 2009, he invested in Freefonix, a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) commissioned animated musical television show. [11] In 2011, Khanna and businessman Angad Paul financed the restaurateur Ilias Nathanail's pizza restaurants in London. [89] In 2013, he was part of a consortium of investors that acquired shares in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers. [90] In 2015 Khanna co-founded Terravision Radar and was involved with the company until 2018. [7] [22]
Khanna has been on the advisory board of the United Nations’ UNAIDS' Health Innovation Exchange (HIEx). [22] He is also a volunteer for the Isha Foundation and has worked with Sadhguru, the founder of the Isha Foundation. [22] Khanna is also involved with the Deendayal Research Institute (DRI), Values-based Education and Pointing out the Great Way Foundation. [22] In 2011, Khanna through his company Yog Capital, was one of the partners of Leher Leher Kabir, a concert that was set up by the Yogi Arwind Foundation to support the Clean the Ganga project, which addressed the pollution of the Ganges river and supported efforts to clean it. [91]
In 2022, Khanna was part of DRI's first World SDG Forum, which was established by the DRI to build a network of organisations that are engaged with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. [92] [93]
In 2005, the Paul Volcker led Independent Enquiry Committee published its report on corruption in the UN's Oil-for-Food Programme. Among the report's allegations was that then Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh, his son Jagat Singh and Khanna were linked to a company named Hamdan Exports, which allegedly functioned as a middleman for oil sales to Masefield AG, a company in Switzerland. [94] [19] Reportedly, Masefield AG paid kickbacks in exchange for the oil sales, part of which allegedly went to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, and allegedly the rest went to Natwar and others. [19] [95] Khanna, a relative of Natwar's, allegedly received payoffs from Masefield for procuring oil contracts through lobbying by Natwar. [96] [97] Khanna was later cleared and given a clean chit by the Pathak Inquiry Authority, which was formed to investigate the allegations. [20] [97]
In April 2006, during the initial investigations, Khanna left India and traveled to London, where he was residing at the time. [19] Later in April 2006, he returned to India. [98] After Khanna's return to India, his passport was seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI); however, after further investigations, the Delhi High Court ordered the CBI to release Khanna's passport back to him. [99] [100] The Delhi High Court also stated that Khanna has not been implicated or arraigned as an accused person in the CBI's case. [100] Khanna was eventually cleared by the courts and the cases against him were dismissed. [101] [21]
In 2007, Securency, the banknote printing company of the Reserve Bank of Australia, was being investigated for bribing foreign officials, in what was at the time the largest foreign bribery investigation in Australian history. [30] During the investigation, Securency was accused of bribing foreign officials so that the company could win contracts for printing polymer banknotes. [30] The investigation revealed that in order to win the contracts, Securency would engage the help of politically connected businessmen. [18] Khanna was one of the businessmen that Securency engaged with. [18] [102] Securency reportedly engaged with Khanna from 2000 to 2006. [30]
Khanna was a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), based in London from 1983 to 2020. [9] [103] [7] After 37 years as an NRI, he returned to India in 2020 and became a resident of the country. [9] [7]
Kunwar Natwar Singh, IFS was an Indian diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005. Having been suspended by the Congress in 2006, he joined Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2008 but was removed from the party within four months.
Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company.
Housing Development Finance Corporation was an Indian private sector mortgage lender based in Mumbai. It was the biggest housing finance company in India. It also had a presence in banking, life and general insurance, asset management, venture capital and deposits through its associate and subsidiary companies.
Aditya Birla Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The group's business interests include metals, cement, fashion and retail, financial services, renewables, fibre, textiles, chemicals, real estate, trading, mining, and entertainment. The group has a presence in 36 nations and a combined annual revenue of US$62 billion, over 50% of which is derived from its overseas operations.
The pharmaceutical industry in India was valued at an estimated US$42 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $130 billion by 2030. India is the world's largest provider of generic medicines by volume, with a 20% share of total global pharmaceutical exports. It is also the largest vaccine supplier in the world by volume, accounting for more than 60% of all vaccines manufactured in the world. Indian pharmaceutical products are exported to various regulated markets including the US, UK, European Union and Canada.
Kumar Mangalam Birla is an Indian billionaire industrialist, philanthropist, and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest conglomerates in India. He is the chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani and ex-chairman of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of US$23 billion, as of March 2024 making him the 6th richest person in India.
Anil Agarwal, known professionally as "metal king," is an Indian billionaire businessman who is the founder and chairman of Vedanta Resources Limited. He controls Vedanta Resources through Volcan Investments, a holding vehicle with a 100% stake in the business.
Bharat Forge Limited is an Indian multinational company involved in forging, automotives, energy, construction and mining, railways, marine, aerospace and defence industries.
Yadavindra Singh was the ninth and last ruling Maharaja of Patiala from 1938 to 1947. Singh kept his royal titles until 1971, when princely titles were abolished through the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India. In his life, Singh was also a diplomat, sports administrator and former cricketer who played one Test in 1934.
Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala was an Indian billionaire investor, stock trader, and Chartered Accountant. He began investing in 1985 with a capital of ₹5,000, with his first major profit in 1986. At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of US$5.8 billion, making him the 438th richest person in the world. He was a partner in his own asset management firm, Rare Enterprises.
Maharaja Sir Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo KCIE was an Indian politician and the last ruler of the princely state of Patna in Odisha before Indian independence in 1947. He was the President of the Ganatantra Parishad political party from 1950 to 1962 and the President of the Odisha state unit of the Swatantra Party after its merger with the Ganatantra Parishad in 1962. He was the Chief Minister of Orissa from 1967 to 1971.
Aditya Puri is a senior advisor at The Carlyle Group. He was the managing director of HDFC Bank, India's largest private sector bank. He assumed this position in September 1994. Puri was the longest-serving head of any private bank in the country. India Today ranked him at #24 in India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2017 list.
Disha Patani is an Indian actress primarily working in Hindi films. Patani made her acting debut with the Telugu film Loafer (2015), and had her first Hindi film release with the biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016). After appearing in the Chinese action comedy Kung Fu Yoga (2017), Patani featured in the films Baaghi 2 (2018), Bharat (2019), Malang (2020), and Kalki 2898 AD (2024). She has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list of 2019.
Vipin Kumar Khanna was an Indian businessman, financier and army officer. Khanna had diverse business interests. He founded Dynamic Sales Service International, a commodities trading and marketing company, which further expanded into railways, infrastructure, telecommunications equipment, shipbroking, fast-moving consumer goods and additional industries. Khanna also had other business interests, which included interests in the arms, aerospace, software, investment banking, hospitality, real estate, alcohol and drinks industries. He was a Non-Resident Indian based in London, England, and also had a base in Delhi, India.
Shunwei Capital is a Beijing-based venture capital firm founded in 2011. It was founded by Lei Jun and Tuck Lye Koh. The firm focuses on investing in the technology sector in China as well as other countries such as India and Indonesia. According to South China Morning Post, from January 2019 to May 2020, it was the ninth most active venture capital firm in China.
Arvind Khanna is an Indian politician, businessman, investor and philanthropist. Khanna is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which he joined in January 2022. He is a senior leader of the BJP and a prominent figure in BJP Punjab. He is serving as Vice-President of BJP Punjab since December 2022 and is a member of BJP Punjab's core committee and finance committee. He served as the member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Sangrur from 2002 to 2007 and the MLA from Dhuri from 2012 to 2014. From 1998 to 2015, Khanna was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). During his time in the INC, Khanna served as General Secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), PPCC treasurer, President of the Punjab Youth Congress, and a member of the All India Congress Committee.
Navin Khanna is an Indian businessman and former polo player. Khanna's business interests are in the commodities, alcohol, food, drinks, and trading industries. In his business career, he facilitated the import of commodities to India from various foreign companies. Khanna's name appeared in the Offshore Leaks report that was published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in 2013. Khanna was a noted polo player and has been owned his own polo teams.
Vinod Kumar Khanna is an Indian businessman. In his career, Khanna held business interests in various industries through the K Group companies he founded, including mining, railways, real estate, power, infrastructure, steel, agriculture, consultancy, hotels, and electronics. Khanna has been noted for his links to foreign companies and for facilitating contracts for foreign companies in India.
The Khanna family is a prominent Punjabi Hindu family originating from India. Members of the Khanna family have been involved in various fields, including business, finance, politics, law, philanthropy, sports, and sports administration. Khanna family members initially gained prominence and notability from the 1950s onwards. The Khanna family's interests in business and finance have been diverse. Since the 1980s, members of the family have been noted for their business interests in the arms and aerospace industries. From the 1960s to the 2020s, the Khanna family's business and financial practices have faced government, investigative, and media scrutiny, leading to multiple controversies. Through many of its members, the Khanna family is related to other notable individuals and families.