Keeping Up With The Khaitans

Abhishek Khaitan, in his mid-twenties, took over a cash-strapped company and turned it into the most profitable Indian liquor company.

- Anmil Vijay

With the backing of his father, Lalit Khaitan, he managed to create brands that would attract customers and one of the brands, 8PM Whiskey, got featured in the LIMCA book of world records for its record high sales. With a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Bangalore and a Managerial Finance and Managerial Accounting course from Harvard, he has managed to create brands that are now well-known throughout the world. In this edition of Delhiites magazine he tells us about his successes, his challenges and how he manages work along with his personal life.

How was Radico Khaitan incepted?

Earlier our company was called as the Rampur Distillery and Chemical Company. We were a bottler and were producing bulk spirit. In the year 1996 we decided that we would get into the branded business and that is the time we took a call that instead of being a regional make we would have more of a national appeal and that is why we changed the name of the company from Rampur Distillery and Chemical company to Radico. We took ‘Ra’ from Rampur, ‘Di’ from Distillery and ‘Co’ from Company. Traditionally the company was started by the Goan brothers in 1943. My father took over the company in 1978 and then in 1996 the name was changed when we entered the branded segment.

How do you feel about the group’s accomplishments now and where do you see it heading in the near future?