Vipin Khanna

Vipin Khanna (near left), during his time in the Indian Army

Khanna was born in Lahore, Punjab Province, British India. He was born into a Punjabi Hindu family. During the partition of India, Khanna and his family fled Lahore, and migrated to Delhi, India. In 1950, Khanna joined the Indian Army after graduating from the National Defence Academy, which at the time was known as the Joint Services Wing, and was part of the Indian Military Academy, in Dehradun.[4][15] He was commissioned into the Brigade of the Guards.[16] During his time in the army, Khanna was part of the Indian contingent of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), which was formed in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis and was deployed to Egypt.[17] He eventually rose to the rank of Major, before voluntarily resigning from the Army in 1965.[4] After resigning from the army, Khanna started his business career.

Over the course of his business career, Khanna had business interests in a diverse range of industries and founded numerous companies. Some of the companies he founded include Dynamic Sales Services International, TSL Defence Technologies, FiNoble Advisors, Clan Morgan Holdings, Hamadan Exports, Indrus Trading and Pipal Software.[18][11] Khanna was a Non-resident Indian businessman, who was based out of London, England.[5][19][20] He also had a base in New Delhi, India.[21]

Khanna started his business career after resigning from the Amy in 1965. His initial business interests were in the importing and exporting of commodities.[22] In 1967, Khanna founded Dynamic Sales Services International (DSSI), which was a diverse commodities import-export business group.[23] In DSSI's initial operations, the company began importing brass strips, bronze wires, speciality steel products, machinery, machine tools, taper roller bearings and oils, and exporting semi-precious stones, silver jewellery and textiles.[24] In 1971, the company also started importing newsprint from Canada to India.[22] In the 1970s, Khanna through his company DSSI, also developed business relations with companies in the United States, and officials from the U.S Embassy, representatives from both the United States Department of Commerce and the United States Department of State would regularly meet and communicate with him.[25][26][27] DSSI's import-export business expanded to include the metals and minerals, fertilizers, agricultural commodities, ship broking, engineering support and oil & gas sectors.[28] The company facilitated the import of products, equipment and components from foreign companies, among which were BHP, Cargill and Mobil, before its merger with Exxon.[29][30] These imports were for Indian Public Sector Undertakings, one of which was Oil & Natural Gas Corporation.[30] DSSI also facilitated both the import and export for companies, which included Louis Dreyfus, Tate & Lyle, National Aluminium Company and Steel Authority of India.[29][31][32] By 2002, DSSI was a diversified business group and the company's annual sales exceeded $800 million.[23] DSSI also had an office in London, and Khanna's youngest child, Aditya Khanna, led DSSI's international business operations.[33][34]

Vipin Khanna in the late 1960s

Khanna later started businesses in other sectors. Khanna entered the defence and arms industry.[35][36] Khanna also had a joint venture with Allied Domecq, through which he brought the whiskey brands, Teacher's and Old Smuggler to India, and helped establish them in the Indian market.[37][38] His company Clan Morgan owned 26% of the joint venture with Allied Domecq.[39] In 1995, Khanna and Aditya founded Tamarind, a restaurant in London.[40][41] Tamarind is an Indian restaurant in Mayfair, and in 2001, became the first Indian restaurant to win a michelin star in the United Kingdom.[42][43] Later, Khanna and Aditya founded Imli, a restaurant in Soho, London, which has since rebranded and is now known as Tamarind Kitchen.[44][45] Khanna and Aditya also founded FiNoble Advisors, which was an investment bank that had offices in New York, London and New Delhi.[11] FiNoble Advisors focused on international middle-market companies and financial institutions that were trying to enter the Indian market, and provided mergers and acquisitions advice to Indian companies that were looking for acquisitions in the United States and Europe.[11][46]

During his business career, Khanna was known to be influential and connected.[47][48][49] During the 1970s, Khanna developed connections within the Government of India and the Indian Bureaucracy.[50][51] This included a relationship with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, members of various ministerial committees and the executives of Public Sector Undertakings.[50][51]

Khanna was also connected to diplomacy. In 1985, during a visit to India, United States Senator Richard Lugar met with Khanna, and other prominent Indian figures, to examine U.S foreign policy in India and South Asia.[52] From 1996 to 2005, Khanna served as the Honorary Consul of Luxembourg in New Delhi.[53]

Khanna was married to Naginder Kumari, daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala.[82][83] Naginder was also the paternal aunt of Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjab.[84][85] Khanna and Naginder had four children, Vineeta, Navin, Arvind and Aditya.[86] Naginder died in 2012, at the age of 75.[82]

Vineeta is married to Randhir Singh, who is a former Olympic-level shooter, former International Olympic Committee member and sports administrator.[87][88] Navin is a businessman, who took control of Vipin's commodities and other import-export related businesses.[89] Arvind is a politician and businessman. Arvind is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been elected twice to the Punjab Legislative Assembly.[90][91][92] Arvind took control of Vipin's arms and defence business interests.[93][94] Aditya is an NRI entrepreneur based out of London, and took control of Vipin's London business interests in restaurants, consulting, financial services, and DSSI's London operations.[33][95][96]

[97] [98] [99] [100] [101] [102] [103] [104] [105] [106] [107] [108] [109] [110] [111] [112] [113] [114] [115] [116] [117] [118] [119]