The Apeejay Surrendra Group is an Indian diversified business conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. Built around interests in shipping, tea, hospitality, real estate, retail, and financial services, it is one of the older privately held industrial houses in eastern India and traces its origins to the early decades of the twentieth century.
| Type | Private conglomerate |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipping, tea, hospitality, real estate, retail, financial services |
| Headquarters | Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Founders | Stya Paul family lineage; Surrendra Paul branch |
| Country | India |
| Notable units | Apeejay Shipping, Apeejay Tea, The Park Hotels, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd, Oxford Bookstore, Typhoo (international tea brand) |
The Apeejay Surrendra Group is the eastern, Kolkata-based wing of the wider Apeejay business family founded by the Paul family of undivided Punjab. The family's industrial activities began with steel and engineering interests in the pre-Independence period and later branched into multiple sectors. Following a division of family businesses, the branch led by Surrendra Paul came to operate under the Apeejay Surrendra name, while other family members ran separate Apeejay-branded enterprises in northern India, including educational institutions.
Apeejay Shipping is among the older private shipping operators in India and has historically run a fleet of bulk carriers and tankers, with operations linked to Indian and international trade routes.
Apeejay Tea operates tea estates principally in Assam and is among the larger bulk producers of Indian tea. In 2005, the group acquired the British tea brand Typhoo, giving it a presence in the United Kingdom packaged tea market.
The group's hospitality arm, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Limited, operates the boutique hotel chain The Park Hotels, with properties in cities including Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Goa, along with the mid-market Zone by The Park brand and the Flurys chain of patisseries.
The group owns the Oxford Bookstore chain, with its flagship store on Park Street, Kolkata, and operates real estate and commercial property businesses, including office and retail developments in Kolkata.
The conglomerate has historically maintained interests in financial services and logistics, alongside cultural initiatives such as the Oxford Bookstore Book Award and literary programming associated with its retail and hospitality outlets.
After the death of Surrendra Paul, leadership of the group passed within the family. Karan Paul serves as Chairman of the Apeejay Surrendra Group, while Priya Paul chairs Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Limited and has been widely associated with the development of The Park Hotels brand.
The Apeejay Surrendra Group is regarded as a long-standing element of Kolkata's corporate landscape, contributing to the city's hospitality, retail and publishing culture through The Park, Flurys and Oxford Bookstore. Its tea and shipping units link it to two traditional pillars of the eastern Indian economy, while the acquisition of Typhoo marked one of the earlier outbound brand acquisitions by an Indian tea company in the United Kingdom.