The modern revival of the East India Company, a luxury retail brand in London, has entered liquidation after running up debts exceeding £950,000 and shutting stores in 2025, yet its chairman insists the historic brand and holding company remain intact.
The revived East India Company once the most powerful trading corporation in world history before its original dissolution in the 19th century has again exited the commercial stage, this time as a luxury retailer in London. According to filings, East India Company Limited appointed liquidators in October 2025 after accumulating debts of more than £950,000 (around ₹12 crore), with substantial liabilities owed to its parent group, UK tax authorities, and employees.
The company’s flagship store at 97 New Bond Street in Mayfair is now vacant and listed for rent, while its official website has gone offline. Additional related firms using the East India name have reportedly also been dissolved or faced winding-up petitions from creditors.
For employees and creditors, the news marks a difficult end to an ambitious but ultimately fragile venture that struggled amid shifting global retail trends, rising costs in prime London retail spaces, and the lingering impact of pandemic-era disruption.
Founder and Chairman Responds: Brand ‘Very Much Alive’
Despite multiple reports of closure and liquidation, the company’s chairman, Sanjiv Mehta, has publicly disputed claims that the entire enterprise has vanished. In a statement to news agencies, Mehta stressed that while certain UK operating entities were wound up or placed into liquidation, the brand-owning and holding company entities remain intact, along with all core intellectual property.
Mehta said the business is undergoing a comprehensive restructuring aimed at long-term stability and growth. He confirmed that new equity is being committed by incoming investors, and that the board including existing shareholders is working toward repositioning the brand. Operations and expansion plans could resume ahead of future peak trading seasons, he added.
According to Mehta, this strategic pivot is in response to “significant disruption” the luxury retail sector faced during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which stalled investment and refinancing efforts necessary to sustain the London retail operations.
A Brand With a Complicated History
The East India Company’s original incarnation was established in 1600 under a royal charter, rapidly growing from a trading enterprise into a governing power with private armies, administrative courts, and territorial control over vast regions of India and Southeast Asia.
Its governance laid foundations for British colonial rule, but it left deep wounds: historians link it to systemic economic exploitation, forced cash-crop cultivation, catastrophic famines and the conditions leading to the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Dissolved in its original form by the mid-19th century, the company remained a potent symbol of colonial power. In 2010, British-Indian entrepreneur Sanjiv Mehta acquired rights to the historic name and relaunch- ed it as a heritage luxury brand in London – selling high-end teas, fine foods, and collectible items that harked back to the company’s centuries-old brand imagery.
The revival drew global attention for its symbolic resonance: an Indian-led reinvention of a corporate name entwined with imperial history. In its early years, the venture expanded into international retail outlets, airport concessions, and exclusive partnerships, aiming to blend historic narrative with premium consumer appeal.
Legacy, Branding and the Modern Market
Analysts say the collapse of the London luxury store and subsequent liquidation of key operating entities reflects broader challenges facing heritage branding in a digital and post-pandemic marketplace. Establishing and sustaining premium retail experiences in flagship global locations like Mayfair requires deep capital, stable supply chains, and adaptability to fast-changing consumer tastes.
Market watchers also note that the historic East India Company name carries mixed cultural meanings, especially in India where its legacy is more often associated with extraction and oppression than with trade and heritage. The revived brand’s attempt to reposition itself as an emblem of cultural reinterpretation may have been ambitious, but its commercial viability was ultimately tested in a fiercely competitive luxury sector.
What This Means Now – And Next
For many observers, the liquidation of East India Company Limited’s UK operations seems like the end of an unorthodox chapter in corporate history one that tried to reinvent a centuries-old emblem for the modern marketplace. Reports suggest that without a successful restructuring and new capital infusion, a third incarnation of the brand may be unlikely.
Yet, Mehta’s announcement that the brand and holding company are still active with fresh strategic partners introduces a note of uncertainty. Investors, customers and history watchers now await concrete developments to see whether the brand can truly re-emerge in a new shape, or whether the recent liquidation represents the final close of the East India Company’s long story.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The East India Company’s modern saga from a colonial power to a luxury brand and now to a contested corporate end raises deeper questions about how history is remembered, repackaged and reused. Names carry power and meaning far beyond commercial value, especially ones tied to histories of conquest, subjugation and exploitation.
While Mehta’s vision sought to recast this legacy in a new light, the journey reveals how difficult it is to disentangle powerful historical associations from contemporary commerce.
