A. Tosh & Sons (India) Ltd. – A legacy brand
"Honesty above all else”
Few brands have a richer history than A. Tosh & Sons (India) Ltd. The company was established by Mr. Ashutosh Ghosh in 1897 and became the first Indian firm to register as the USSR Government’s tea purchasing and shipping agent in 1957. By the 1980s, the brand had become one of the top three companies, exporting almost 25 million kilograms of tea from India. In its 120 years, Tosh, as the company is popularly known, has never had any complaints regarding quality or deliveries, from their more-than-happy clients from all over the globe. Even market fluctuations have not deterred the company from keeping their word regarding pricing, so it is no surprise that they are as successful as they are.
A Journey to Revival
The focus of the company has always been “service over self” and, for the last 120 years, Tosh has followed this motto in all their dealings, whether it be clients or their employees. In 2008, keeping this ethos in mind, Mr. Amitava Ghosh revived the brand and gave it a new life. Despite innumerable challenges, which of course are omnipresent in such situations, he and his team strived to ensure that the quality and service that had made them the leaders of the tea industry in the 1900s were at the forefront of the brand revival strategy. This adherence to the strict codes of the company’s age-old motto has paid off, and today they are known for their commitment to “Excellence and Trust”.
Strong client relationships
Tosh prides itself for maintaining great client relationships across its many years of existence in the tea industry and Mr. Ghosh attributes this success to the paramount importance that is given to honesty and trust in all the company’s dealings with its clients.
The Journey to Success
One important factor that aided the rise of A. Tosh was the level of innovation that Mr. Ghosh introduced in the processing and production of their teas. He felt that the company needed to invest in building infrastructure required for processing consumer tea products such as numerous warehouses, state-of-the-art blending machines, single and double-chamber tea bagging machines, automated machines for cleaning the teas, and machines for packing teas in bulk and packet form. The company has invested in machines that produce square pot tea bags and pyramid tea bags as well as fully automated liner carton packing machines. Simply put, A. Tosh has surpassed most of their contemporaries in the Indian tea industry.
An industry that thrives on transparency
Tea is an age-old industry which has now adopted one of the best trading systems, by way of online auctions which makes the purchase of teas from the sellers/manufacturers completely transparent. Thus, any new entrant in the industry must be able to provide a better quality and better pricing to be able to compete effectively in the space. Anything else will be picked up easily in such a transparent and close-knit industry. Tea is a growing market and startups entering this field generally find themselves challenged if they come in unprepared.
Giving Back
Tosh have planted over 2,000 trees and plants at their facility in Coimbatore and more than 90% of their employees are residents of the surrounding villages. Their employees are extremely well looked after, with above-the-industry-standard pay scales, qualifications notwithstanding.