1942-1970s

The future is tea

Jayantilal Shah visited his family's gutkha business and made a value based decision to exit.

The organisation decided that it would only sell products that the founders are willing to consume themselves

1970s - 1980s

High initiative to go to new markets

The Indian govt. facilitated opening up of new markets in Russia and Africa.

MJIL was up ahead in the queue of Indian businesses responding to the tenders to enter these markets. It set up a hugely successful brand of Sunflower tea in Sudan over the next decade

Mr. J Shah and Mr, Harish Shah, father & son, believed in seizing opportunities and trying new things. This is where the spirit of innovation and initiative became ingrained in MJIL DNA

1980s-1990s

High initiative to venture into new product formats

MJIL management has constantly kept track of new developments in the rest of the world. Through their presence in leading trade fairs, and presence in international markets, they were aware of all new product launches in the category

They were the FIRST tea player to buy a tea bag making machine, which came by air from the manufacturer in Argentina

The Texas tea party

They were the FIRST tea bag manufacturer to get a contract from a customer in the US. It was the result of a tea party between the buyer of a leading food chain and the MJIL founder, where the buyer(also the Co. owner) was so impressed by the Shahs' knowledge of tea quality that he had no qualms placing an order with the company

1990s - 2000s

Entry into Russia

Post break up of the USSR, the Indian consulate in Vladivostok invited Indian businesses to venture into this hitherto unfamiliar market

It was not for the fainthearted and there were a limited number of people willing to take this bold plunge. In keeping with the MJIL value of going where tea players have not gone before, they set up business in Russia with a partner whom they continue to work with even today. A relationship that has stood the test of time, and naturally lead to mutually beneficial returns

2005-2011

Creating the differentiator of integrated supply chain

Up to 25% reduction in costs and 50% reduction in delivery times for customers

Freedom from the tyranny of MOQs that hold manufacturers back from experimenting with specialised and premium blends

The rapidly increasing orders from global markets and the company's expertise in the more value added products, meant that they struggled with challenges of batch sizes and restrictions of variant level of packaging.

Given that the company management has a level of impatience to rival that of its customers, they decided to bring in these functions into the company, absorbing business partners.

MJIL is therefore the ONLY tea player in the subcontinent to manufacture tags and envelopes, leading to significant advantages for its customers

2011- present day

The entry into consumer brands in India

Sumit Shah the 4th generation head of the business, came in to the company, post education in the US and UK, with the understanding that the group intended to become a strong player in the branded value added tea category in India.

A slew of consumer brands like Teame, Tez, Saraswati and Lalpan now build their presence across geographies, price points and tea formats.

Even as these brands ride on the conversion of the market towards increasingly differentiated and value added products, the manufacturing process continues its evolution into organic and sustainable products