Spice Garden and Pardeep Batra Shine In ASEAN – India Business Summit

The 3rd ASEAN - India Business Summit (AIBS), conclave organized under the aegis of Ministry of International Trade and Industries conducted its annual commemorative dinner and achievements awards ceremony at the St. Regis Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 27th of November 2018. The ceremony was presided by the Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry YB Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking.  

It was a time to rise and shine for Indian Entrepreneurs who showed exemplary business acumen and excelled in their fields of business. Present at the conclave were Dr. Arun Chandavarkar, Jt. MD, Biocon, Mr. Abhinav Sinha, COO, OYO Rooms, Mr. Pardeep Batra, Owner, Spice Garden Group of restaurants, Mr. Sanjay Das, MN, SG Global Technologies and a host of dignitaries from all walks of life.

ASEAN - India Business Summit identifies businessmen from both the ASEAN and the Indian Business community and honours them with special achievement awards. Spice Garden group of restaurants owner Mr. Pardeep Batra received the special ASEAN - India Achievement award for the businessman of year. Receiving the award for the first time, Mr. Batra was all praise for the efforts taken by the AIBS to encourage entrepreneurship in ASEAN and India. Spice Garden has been one of the best Indian Restaurants in Malaysia with almost 7 branches across Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. Mr. Batra has been in the hospitality business for over 30 years now and has been patronizing the Indian Curry and Kebabs.

In his own words and ascertained by almost all of his patrons, Mr. Batra’s dynamic and bold personal aura helped his Spice Garden stand tall amongst Indian restaurants in Malaysia, giving competition to almost the entire westernized food palette. He has been inventing new recipes which has helped him rekindle the culinary talent of his staff who vouch for his phenomenal work ethic. 

The world seems to be listening and indulging their taste buds with new recipes every time they enter Spice Garden. Speaking at the event, an ecstatic Batra playing a modest tone says that it’s the hard work of his entire team and he dedicates this award to his phenomenally talented staff pool. He reminisces the days when he and Dr. Sailesh Hiranandani, Chairman, SRAM & MRAM Group and partner, long term friend and business associate would sit across the Riverfront in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and talk about recipes and their impact on the populace. He still remembers the fond words of his friend Dr. Hiranandani, that the day is not far away when the world will take notice of the hard work and excellence that has gone into the Spice Garden brand. It's like a dream come true for Mr. Batra.

Dr. Sailesh Lachu Hiranandani, a fund manager, whose penchant for investments in tech startups has been renowned. He has been the brain behind the USD 950 Mn Private Equity deal for Energy Startup Cosmo Solutions helmed by Mr. Nitin Mahendraprasad Gupta. Mr. Gupta a technocrat and a electronics genius has been at the forefront of negotiations with heads of state of 3 governments viz. South Africa, India and Cambodia for setting up his manufacturing centre for all his patented products. Mr. Gupta is in talks with the various dignitaries from the ASEAN to put up his ancillary offshoot of his products and has been receiving encouraging responses from almost all the countries he has been talking with. 

Dr. Hiranandani, is the chairman of SRAM & MRAM Group, a global conglomerate founded in 1995 currently with 8 international alliances, 10 group companies, spread across 5 continents, 35+ locations, 300+ employees and a sales turnaround of USD 300 Million (FY 2016-2017). SRAM & MRAM Group’s core strengths are Agro-products and Information Technology, with footprints spread across multifarious services, verticals and operations viz., Neural Networks, Artificial Intelligence, Hedge Fund Management, FOREX Management, Hospitality Services & Solutions, Information Technology, Media & Publishing, Embedded Systems and Infrastructure. 

SRAM & MRAM is in the process of launching Hey Cab, a B2C cab hiring service on the lines of Uber and Grab in partnership with Master Tours and Travels owned by Mr.Rahul Shah in South Africa, Cambodia and India.  It would be first of its kind service which will eventually integrate all B2B service providers under one platform and take e-hailing as a business to the next level.

It’s like achieving the impossible. Even today, one can see him experimenting at the kitchen to preserve the authentic food, taste, flavor and presentation. The secret behind the phenomenal success of Spice Garden is keeping up with the booming business and lifestyle changes. There is always something new for the repeat customers as well as culinary surprises for the walk-ins. He ensures every customer experiences the impressive gastrointestinal journey of the previous generations. Mr. Batra is ably assisted by his wife Ms. Ashima Batra, an entrepreneur herself, helping her husband and also doing a lot of charitable work for underprivileged children and women. His son Mr. Bharat Batra, a Hotel Management graduate from Switzerland and winner of a few chef awards himself takes care of the kitchen currently in the absence of Mr. Pardeep Batra.