Wagh Bakri has never focussed on growth at breakneck spread, yet it remains the third-largest packaged tea company
On a Saturday afternoon, as we enter the two-storeyed Wagh Bakri tea lounge in Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad, a houseful of customers are enjoying warm cuppas in the relatively mild winter of January. We sit down for a conversation with the three generations of the family, but something feels incomplete. The most enthusiastic and outspoken member isn’t around. 2023 was a tough year for the Desai family, with the passing of, first, Pankaj and later Parag Desai within six months. In October, 49-year-old Parag met with an accident and succumbed to multiple complications.
(This story appears in the 08 March, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)