The reverse Raj: Indian businesses turn tables on imperial master

Britain took commercial and cultural advantage of India as its imperial master. Now a new generation of wealthy Indians is reversing the roles

The assembled businessmen wore black ties and listened politely to a string quartet under crystal chandeliers in a magnificent ballroom. The room buzzed with talk of the old country, but more importantly with commercial speculation about their new domain. What was to be their next takeover target in the local economy?

It could have been a sepia print of the British East India Company, which effectively ruled India as a private colony for 100 years, but a closer look revealed a different kind of burra sahib. More Chandigarh than Cheam, the men gathered at the Grosvenor House hotel in Mayfair, central London, last year were the representatives of a new Indian raj, powerful men intent on buying up chunks of the homeland of their old imperial masters.

They included the host Subodh Agrawal, dealmaker for some of India’s tycoons, and the Hinduja brothers, fourth on The Sunday Times Rich List. An aide to Lakshmi Mittal, the world’s wealthiest steel baron, was there, along with the Birlas and the Jindals, representing India’s oldest industrial families. Britain’s new Indian aristocracy – such as Mike Jatania, who bought Yardley cosmetics – were also in attendance.

They have been called the Indian Billionaires Club and last week one of its celebrated members pulled off the most symbolic corporate takeover in Indian history.

When Tata, the Mumbai-based conglomerate headed by Ratan Tata, bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford last week, a nation still reeling from a few cannabis-infused bhang lassis over the Hindu festival of Holi extended the party.