Kallol Dutta, the former chairman and managing director of Andrew Yule, passed away on Tuesday after fighting a critical illness for a couple of years.

Dutta, who breathed his last at a city nursing home, is survived by his wife, son and daughter and other family members.

Known for his affable nature and astute managerial ability, Dutta will also be remembered on how he took failing PSU Andrew Yule out of sickness and turned it into a modestly dividend paying company.

He was at the helm of Andrew Yule from 2007 to 2016 when he retired. Yule had declared a 5 per cent dividend after a gap of 21 years for the financial year 2014-15.

It also notched up an accumulated profit of Rs 20 crore during 2014-15 compared with an accumulated loss of Rs 431 crore in 2006-07 and a negative net worth of Rs 157 crore when Datta took over.

The net worth of Yule turned positive at Rs 224 crore in that year.

Born in 1953, Dutta got his BE degree from Calcutta University before doing his masters from IIT Kharagpur in mechanical engineering.

He also served as the managing director of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd. Dutta, a vocal business leader who never minced words to criticise the establishment of the day, was also a past president of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry.