kairbetta Kotagiri, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu

Kairbetta Estates has its origin in and after 1887, when an Englishman J.T.Murray purchased many small but adjoining tracts of land from the Government and locals in the northeast region of the Nilgiri Hills (present day Kotagiri). He consolidated these pieces of land, cultivated tea and sold the green leaf to other factories nearby.
Around the year 1920, G.K.Martin, a coffee planter from Mysore bought up a good majority of J.T.Murray’s land in Kotagiri. It was under his management that the factory was constructed around the year 1926 and black tea was produced on the property. He and his wife Amy had two daughters, Margaret Cecilia and Dorothy Susanne. G.K.Martin thus left the plantation to his two daughters and their families.
Col. G.A.R. Spain, a retired Royal Air Force Colonel and husband of Dorothy Susanne, the younger daughter of G.K.Martin, started to look after the property in the early 1920’s after the death of his father-in-law in 1929. During his time managing the property, Kairbetta worked to modernize its machinery and field exercises. Col. G.A.R. Spain was a pioneer in certain agricultural practices, management systems and welfare programs that is still widely used in the industry.
In the year 1956, the Bhansalis purchased the property from the erstwhile family of Col. G.A.R. Spain. The Bhansalis, a Gujarati family based in Calcutta and Bombay at the time, were already in the business of trading tea and spices. They looked to expand their business, and saw this as a great opportunity. Since then the property has seen four generations of tea growers.
The story of Kairbetta Estates spans over a hundred years, and is closely entwined with the history of tea plantations in South India.