Aditya Khanna

Aditya Khanna (born 8 December 1971) is an Indian entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist. In 2020, he co-founded Faarms, an Indian technology company, which merged with Connect India E-Commerce Services in 2024 to form Bharat Supply, a logistics technology, e-commerce and financial technology company. In 2023, Khanna became a partner at Ethiopotash, a company that mines and refines sulphate of potash in Ethiopia.
In 1995, Khanna co-founded Tamarind Collection, a restaurant group, in London, England, and was involved with the company until 2016. In 2001, Khanna co-founded Pipal Research, a knowledge process outsourcing company, which was sold to CRISIL in 2010. From 2005 to 2019, Khanna founded and owned Yog Capital, an investment bank and investment company. In 2006, he co-sponsored TransTech Services Partners Inc, a Nasdaq Stock Market listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) which acquired a steel manufacturer in 2009. He was also one of the original co-owners of Punjab Kings, an Indian Premier League cricket team founded in 2008.
During his early career, Khanna was linked to controversial allegations concerning oil deals and the use of political influence for business gains.
Early life and education
Aditya Khanna was born on 8 December 1971 in Delhi, India. A member of the Khanna family, he is the youngest son and child of businessman Vipin Khanna and Naginder Khanna. His mother, Naginder was the daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. Khanna's three elder siblings are Vinita, Navin and Arvind. He attended university at Richmond, The American International University in London. Khanna was also a director of DSSI Exports. In 1996, he was involved in DSSI's trading and marketing of agricultural commodities and fertilizers. In 1999, Khanna and Vipin were one of the bidders for Haryana Breweries Limited (HBL), during the company's privatisation by the Haryana Government and the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).Khanna eventually became the vice chairman of DSSI Global, and led DSSI's international operations from the company's London office.
Tamarind Collection
In 1995, he and Vipin founded Tamarind, a restaurant in London that became part of the Tamarind Collection, their restaurant group. Tamarind is an Indian restaurant in Mayfair and in 2001, became the first Indian restaurant in the United Kingdom to receive a Michelin star. Khanna and Vipin opened a second restaurant named Imli The Tamarind Collection acquired Zaika, an Indian restaurant in Kensington, in 2013. He was involved in the Tamarind Collection from its founding in 1995 to 2016. FiNoble Advisors had offices in New Delhi, London and New York City, and advised Indian companies that were searching for acquisitions in Europe and the United States. FiNoble also assisted foreign middle-market companies and financial institutions that were looking for opportunities in India.
Independent business career
Khanna was one of the founding investors of the Quintessentially Group, a British luxury concierge company, founded in 2000, and was involved with the company from 2000 to 2014. Pipal Research was one of India's most prominent KPO companies in the research and analytics segment. Pipal Research had a contract with the London Stock Exchange to produce research for investors on companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market, which the company provided through their own web portal, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg. Pipal Research also tested strategies and models for quantitative hedge funds, and also advised other hedge funds in their position sizing and market timing. The company was acquired by CRISIL in 2010.
In 2005, Khanna co-founded Bridge Capital Advisors and was involved with the company until 2008. Bridge Capital Advisors primarily invested in assets and provided investment advisory services to foreign institutional investors in the Indian warehousing, infrastructure and power industries. The infrastructure and power assets that Bridge Capital Advisors had invested in and managed in India included two free-trade warehouse zones, a container freight station, a toll road concession, a hydro power station, and investments in other hydro power stations and wind power fields.
Khanna has also founded companies and invested in ventures through his "Yog" group of companies, which he founded in 2005. His investment bank and private investment company, Yog Capital, offered services in mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and capital raising; however, the company did not offer Equity Capital Market services. In 2015, Yog Capital was a donor to Jo Johnson, who at the time was the Minister for Universities and Science under then-British Prime Minister Theresa May. Khanna's Yog group of companies also had an IT outsourcing business.
In 2020, Khanna co-founded Faarms. Faarms was founded as an Indian technology company that provided an e-commerce platform for India's farming community. The company provided products and services to farmers across India through its online marketplace platform. In August 2021, the company raised $2 million in a seed round that was led Koh Boon Hwee and Cornelius Boersch, among other angel investors. In November 2021, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The collaboration with CWC allowed Faarms to leverage CWC's network of warehouses for delivering farming needs to small and marginal farmers. Also in January 2022, Faarms, through collaborations with other businesses, launched digitally distributed insurance products for India's rural population. In April 2022, Bharat Bill Payment System and Faarms entered into a collaboration to facilitate recurring payments services. In July 2022, Faarms raised $10 million from investors in a funding round. In 2023, Faarms began to provide access to loans.
In January 2024, Faarms' parent company, Faarms Global Tech Venture, and Connect India E-Commerce Services, a logistics technology company, merged to form Bharat Supply. Connect India E-Commerce Services was part of an investment portfolio of impact investor Aavishkaar Capital. Bharat Supply focuses on supply chain management and providing integrated logistics services, including rail logistics, warehousing, reverse logistics, and first-mile, middle-mile and last-mile transport, for rural India. Bharat Supply also operates an e-commerce marketplace platform, provides insurance services, offers banking services, and facilitates bill payment services. Ethiopotash, a subsidiary of XLR Enterprises (Cyprus), mines sulphate of potash through solution mining at the Dallol Project mine, located in the Dallol area of the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia. In 2022, XLR Enterprises (Cyprus) acquired the Dallol Project mine from Yara International, and subsequently established Ethiopotash as a subsidiary of the company.
Ethiopotash's Dallol Project mine contains one of the world's largest deposits of potash. Ethiopotash's production process results in the lowest global cost for sulphate of potash.
In 2024, Khanna became a non-executive partner and a member of the advisory board of Etonhurst Investment Advisors, an Indian real estate fund management firm based in Mumbai. In 2013, he was part of a consortium of investors that acquired shares in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers. In 2015 Khanna co-founded Terravision Radar and was involved with the company until 2018. He is also a volunteer for the Isha Foundation and has worked with Sadhguru, the founder of the Isha Foundation.
In 2022, Khanna was part of DRI's first World SDG Forum, which was established by the DRI to build a network of organisations that are engaged with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Controversies
Oil-for-Food Programme
In 2005, the Paul Volcker led Independent Enquiry Committee published its report on corruption in the UN's Oil-for-Food Programme. Among the report's allegations was that then Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh, his son Jagat Singh and Khanna were linked to a company named Hamdan Exports, which allegedly functioned as a middleman for oil sales to Masefield AG, a company in Switzerland. Reportedly, Masefield AG paid kickbacks in exchange for the oil sales, part of which allegedly went to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, and allegedly the rest went to Natwar and others. Khanna, a relative of Natwar's, allegedly received payoffs from Masefield for procuring oil contracts through lobbying by Natwar. Khanna was later cleared and given a clean chit by the Pathak Inquiry Authority, which was formed to investigate the allegations. After Khanna's return to India, his passport was seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI); however, after further investigations, the Delhi High Court ordered the CBI to release Khanna's passport back to him. The Delhi High Court also stated that Khanna has not been implicated or arraigned as an accused person in the CBI's case.
Securency
In 2007, Securency, the banknote printing company of the Reserve Bank of Australia, was being investigated for bribing foreign officials, in what was at the time the largest foreign bribery investigation in Australian history. Khanna was one of the businessmen that Securency engaged with. Securency reportedly engaged with Khanna from 2000 to 2006.<ref name":35" /> After 37 years as an NRI, he returned to India in 2020 and became a resident of the country.<ref name":6" /><ref name=":35" />

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