Grindlays Bank (GB) - 1883 to London; 1943 to Bombay

Hotz family (Mrs. F.E. Hotz & Robert Hotz) was not only the first family to own luxury hotels in India, but also, they were the first ones to have a hotel chain in the country. Mrs. F.E. Hotz was the primary force behind the hotel chain.

Hotel Cecil, Delhi, was established in 1904 and was owned by Hotz family. Civil Lines, in Delhi was where all English hotels were located in the first decade of 1900s. The three hotels that stood out were Maidens Hotel, Swiss Hotel and Hotel Cecil. Maidens Hotel was the favourite haunt of Edwin Lutyens, the chief architect of New Delhi. The Cecil was an exclusive hotel with about hundred rooms and a swimming pool. Today, St Xavier’s School stands where it once used to be.

Cecil Hotel, Shimla, stand at the location of erstwhile Tendrils Cottage, a regular abode, of Rudyard Kipling. The cottage was bought by Hotz family in 1902, renovated, and a Tudor-framed structure of Cecil Hotel arose at the site. Cecil, over a period of time was transferred to a newly created company, Associated Hotels of India. The story of how the legendary Mohan Singh Oberoi acquired the hotel thereafter needs no retelling; from a clerk with a salary of Rupees Fifty to acquiring the hotel from the than owner Mr. Clarke for Rupees Twenty-Five Thousand.

Wildflower Hall Hotel was the summer residence of Lord Kitchener of Khartoum. The building got burnt down and thus a new one was constructed. It was a favoured summer residence of Lord Ripon. In 1909, after Lord Kitchener returned to London, it was sold to Hotz family. Mrs. Hotz constructed a beautiful three storey hotel at the site. After independence, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation ran the hotel. Another fire led to the destruction of the hotel. It was reconstructed by the Oberoi group. Today, it is a joint venture between Himachal Government and the Oberoi group.

Hotel Gables, Mashobra was a regular summer retreat of Lord Lutton, the Governor General and Viceroy of India (1876 - 1880). Today, Hotel Gables is owned by Gables Group active in hospitality, real estate and construction. 

Lauries Hotel, Agra which was where the royalty and British gathered in British India has not kept pace with the times. It is a functional hotel but does not command the awe and respect that it once did.

Lloyd Triestino was an Italian insurance company established in 1833 which metamorphized into an ocean-liner company ferrying passengers across the globe. During World War II it lost 68 ships. In 1993, a Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine Corps entered in a partnership with Lloyd Triestino and eventually acquired them in 1998. It is primarily a container freight company now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Triestino

The envelope above travelled from Portuguese India to British India.

The Standard Vacuum Oil Company was established in 1931 as a joint venture between Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil, which was later known as Mobil. Socony stood for the Standard Oil Company of New York which was formed in 1882. Vacuum Oil was formed in 1866. In 1931, Socony had merged with Vacuum Oil to create Socony-Vacuum Oil.

During the 1950s, disagreements arose between the partners, ultimately leading to their split in 1962. As a result, two companies were formed: Jersey Standard Southeast Asia and Mobil Oil Southeast Asia. Interestingly, in 1999, the two entities reunited, merging to form the now-famous ExxonMobil.

In India, the company started its operations in 1910 as Standard Oil Company of New York and thereafter changed its name in 1931 to Socony-Vacuum Oil. In 1951, the company signed an agreement with Government of India to set up a refinery at Trombay. A new company Standard Vacuum Refining Company of India was incorporated. The company started manufacturing motor gasoline and expanded to LPG, JBO, asphalt, SBP spirit, hexane, naptha, petroleum ether and propane. 

In 1954, Socony-Vacuum Oil built the iconic Petroleum House in Bombay and relocated its headquarters there, which was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister, Morarji Desai. The building was notable for its modern and environmentally friendly design, featuring open office spaces. In 1974, the company was nationalized and rebranded as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).

The sender of the letter is Vita Pack Corporation. Not much is known about Vita Pack Corporation, but the company played a significant role in the history of cashew nut exports from India. In the late 1920s, American businessmen from Vita Pack Corporation and General Food Corporation collaborated with Shri Narayan Zantye, a pioneer in the cashew processing industry in Goa. They provided technical and financial assistance to successfully export cashew kernels to the U.S. for the first time in 1928. This partnership marked the beginning of a thriving cashew export industry in Goa.

The Ottoman Bank was founded in 1856 and headquartered in Constantinople. It was called the Imperial Ottoman bank from 1863 to 1925. It was the “state bank” of the Ottoman Empire and one of the largest in the world. 

In its heydays, it was the lender to the Ottoman government and had monopoly on issuance of banknotes. The bank at one point had 83 branches including three head offices. In consortium with different banks, it was involved in financing of railways, ports, tobacco company and had investments in South African gold mines.

Post World War I, in 1920 Banque Paribas took control of the bank and renamed it Ottoman Bank. Subsequently, in 1996,on purchase by Garanti Bank it passed into Turkish hands and was renamed Garanti BBVA in 2019.

The envelope above addressed to Ottoman Bank is from National Bank of India. Read here to know more about National Bank of India.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Bank

Eastern Bank Limited was founded in 1909 in London to help finance trade with the far-east. Soon it had branches in Bombay and Calcutta.

It expanded fast and established branches in Iraq (Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk etc.), Ceylon, Singapore, Bahrain, India (Karachi, Madras etc.), Malaysia, Qatar, Syria etc.

The 1957 Mundhra scandal in India resulted in huge losses. Over the years Barclays Bank and the Sassoon family had cornered controlling stake (65%) in the Bank. The two sold it to Chartered Bank which in turn merged into Standard Bank of South Africa to form Standard Chartered Bank in 1969.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Bank_Ltd_(historic)