Areez Pirojshaw Khambatta, the founding chairman of the popular drink Rasna, died on Monday in Ahmedabad of a cardiac arrest, according to the company.
The 85-year-old industrialist, who had been suffering from a long illness, died on November 19.
His wife Persis, children Piruz, Delna, and Ruzan, daughter-in-law Binaisha, and grandchildren Arzeen, Arzad, Avan, Areez, Firoza, and Arnavaz survive him.
His father, Phiroja Khambatta, started a small business that Areez grew into the world’s largest concentrate manufacturer, with a presence in over 60 countries.
In the 1970s, he developed low-cost Rasna soft drink packs as an alternative to high-priced soft drink products. It is available in 1.8 million retail outlets across the country.
Rasna, which is now the world’s largest gentle drink concentrate producer, still has a high recall, and the brand’s ‘I love you Rasna’ campaign from the 1980s and 1990s is still fresh in people’s minds.
A Rs 5 pack of Rasna can be converted into 32 glasses of soft drinks at a cost of only 15 paise per glass.
Rasna has nine manufacturing plants and a strong distribution network in India, with 26 depots, 200 super stockists, 5,000 stockists, and a salesforce of 900 people covering 1.6 million outlets.
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