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vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grhnati naro ‘parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany anyani samyati navani dehi
Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the
embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
~
Bhagavad Gita: 2.22
Mr Deepak Khaitan, elder son of Mr & Mrs B.M. Khaitan, breathed his last on 9 March 2015 at the age of
fifty-nine. After graduating
B.ComHonours from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, he obtained his MBA degree
from IIM Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr Khaitan was the Vice Chairman of the Williamson Magor group of companies which include McLeod
Russel, Eveready Industries, McNally Bharat Engineering Co Ltd and Kilburn Engineering Ltd among others.
The Entrepreneur
Mr Khaitan served as Managing Director of Eveready Industries from the time the company came into the
group in 1994 until 10 August 2011, stepping down only after ensuring a turnaround for the company once
mired in debt. Mr Khaitan had a vision – to leverage Eveready’s core household battery business in order to sell
light bulbs where electricity hadn’t penetrated – reflecting Eveready's philosophy, “You can live in darkness.
But once you are used to light, you will never go back to darkness.”
The 7 December 2009 issue of Businessworld carried an article entitled Deepak Khaitan and His Magic Lamp
which described his pioneering effort to introduce the LED (Light Emitting Diode) lanterns as a low cost
substitute for kerosene lamps in rural areas where the supply of electricity is either erratic or nonexistent, built
on the principle of providing clean, milky white light in place of the kerosene lantern’s dull yellow rays, soot
and smoke.
1955 – 2015
DEEPAK KHAITAN
JULY 2015 03