K Mathew Abraham elected president of UPASI for 2024-25

The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI), the apex trade body for plantation sector in the South, has announced its new office bearers for the year 2024-25.

K Mathew Abraham has been elected as President of UPASI at the Annual General Meeting of the Association held on Saturday in Coonoor. K Mathew Abraham is the Managing Director & CEO of Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited (KDHP), the largest tea plantation company in South India, since 2015. KDHP is an associate company of Tata Consumer Products. Abraham has three decades of experience in plantation management having worked across functions in estates, factories and marketing. He is also a director on the board of Tata Coffee and Amalgamated Plantations. Abraham has a master’s degree in organic chemistry from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai and has completed the General Management Program, from Harvard Business School, Boston, Upasi said in a statement.

Ajoy Thipaiah, Vice President

Ajoy Thipaiah has been elected as Vice-President of UPASI for the year 2024-25. As a fourth generation coffee planter, he joined the family-owned Guddadamane and Kerehaklu Estates situated in Aldur of Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka, after completing his under graduation at Christ College, Bengaluru in 1983. He was actively involved in the Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) from the late eighties and had a long stint as its executive committee member, culminating in heading the association as chairman in 2008-09. He was also actively involved with the Upasi and KPA Sports Clubs and served as the president of both clubs.

Ajoy Thipaiah was nominated to the Coffee Board of India in 2009 and served a full term as a representative of Coffee growers from Karnataka. He served in the UPASI Executive Committee during 2007-09, and has been in the Committee since 2017-18. He served as the Chairman of the UPASI Coffee Committee for the period 2021-22 to 2023-24.