kolkata a tea story that has been brewing in the darjeeling hills for a while has now come to fruition with makaibari tea estate owner rajah banerjee selling off almost 90 stake to the luxmi group the deal believed to be in excess of rs 20 crore and being termed a strategic partnership by the parties ends the romance of the only familyowned garden that has survived the tribulations of time in the hills banerjees great grandfather girish chandra had founded the estate and set up the worlds first tea factory in 1859 the garden a niche property off kurseong that shaped the perception of darjeeling tea and elevated the golden brew from a cash crop to a brand worth its weight in gold was passed down the generation to tarapada pashupatinath and rajah today makaibari is the ultimate brand for a connoisseur of darjeeling tea it was the official tea partner at beijing olympics in 2008 and will be served at the 2014 fifa world cup which kicks off in brazil on wednesday the luxmi group that has acquired the majority stake in makaibari produces tea in copious quantities at estates spread over assam tripura dooars and terai too has a story to tell having being founded in 1912 by paresh chandra chatterjee in tripura to fuel the movement of satyagraha by replacing british tea by the indian tea his son dipankar is now the chairman the groups other businesses are carpets and real estate the turnover from tea is rs 300 crore speaking to toi on tuesday rajah banerjee confirmed that he was now a minority owner at makaibari but would continue to manage the garden that produces around 125 lakh kg tea every year and steer the brands fortunes it was a tough decision but one that needed to be taken i was toying with the idea for four years and finally bit the bullet a few days ago said banerjee who will remain the chairman of makaibari tea trading co pvt ltd and the face of the company with the details of the deal yet to reach the india tea association the apex body of tea growers says it continues to view rajah as the owner of makaibari the seeds of a partnership were perhaps sown in november 2010 when makaibari and luxmi tea jointly launched a pack carrying the logos of german football giant fc bayern munich and local favourite east bengal to commemorate a match between the teams in addition to infusion of muchneeded capital to develop the estate the luxmi group that produces over 15 million kg of tea in comparison less than 10 million kg of tea is grown in entire darjeeling district will bring in accounting expertise and distribution network helping makaibari evolve into a much bigger brand on its part makaibari will not only bring to the table the expertise in creating one of the most valuable tea brands but also its rich legacy though makaibari is now a