NRI, Karan Bilimoria, a leading young entrepreneur;
founder and Chief Executive of Cobra Beer will sit
on the crossbenches in the Upper House on Monday.
Seven new non-party-political peers recommended by
the House of Lords Appointments Commission were announced
in May
Full Story:
Bilimoria to enter House of Lords
IANS
Shibi Alex Chandy
Monday, July 24, 2006
India-born beer baron Karan Bilimoria will on Monday
formally “take his seat” in the House of
Lords, making him the first Parsi to enter the British
Parliament’s upper House.
Bilimoria, the owner of Cobra beer, became Lord Bilimoria
CBE, of Chelsea, after being granted peerage on June
16. He will now take his seat in the upper House as
a “cross bencher” - that is, without any
party affiliation.
“It’s a great privilege, and I am truly
humbled,” Bilimoria, whose “NRI beer”
Cobra is a staple at the thousands of Indian restaurants
in Britain, told IANS in an interview.
As one of the 10 youngest members of the 714-member
House of Lords, Bilimoria says he will focus on “entrepreneurship,
enterprise, trade and investment” as well as
the emerging India story.
“India’s importance will see a sustained
increase in the decades to come,” says Bilimoria,
who is chair of the Indo-British Partnership Council
and a member of the UK-India Round Table, chaired
by Lord Patten.
And he hopes he will have a role to play in strengthening
the bonds - both political and business — between
the two countries.
Bilimoria follows in the footsteps of three other
illustrious Parsis who have served in the British
Parliament - though all of them were elected to the
House of Commons, the lower House.
Dadabhai Naoroji was the first Indian — indeed,
Asian — to be elected to the House of Commons,
winning on a Liberal ticket and serving a four-year
term from 1892 to 1895.
Bilimoria, the son of an Indian army general, remembers
playing, as a child, with former prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. He came
to Britain for his higher education at age 19.
A general dissatisfaction with the “gassy and
heavy” British beer that “just did not go
well with Indian food”, led in 1990 to the creation
of the lighter Cobra super premium beer - “the
British beer of Indian origin”.
Cobra, which was initially brewed in Bangalore and
shipped to Britain, is today one of the fastest-growing
beer brands in Britain and the recipient of numerous
Monde Selection gold medals - the spirits equivalent
of the Oscars.
