MDH owner Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, hailed India's spice King passed away on Thurday. Gulati was inarguably the face of the brand, the second-largest group in the Indian spice industry.
Originally established by his father Mahashay Chunni Lal Gulati in 1919 in Sialkot, Mahashay Di Hatti Deggi Mirch Wale (red chili powder sellers) wasn't a household name as it is today until it shifted to Delhi.
Having arrived to Delhi after the partition, Gulati started off as a tonga driver, eventually earning enough to set up his own spice store in Karol Bagh. Within five years, he expanded his business, setting up a second branch in Chandni Chowk.
In the following year, he started a retail store by the name of 'Roopak Stores', where he sold all his powdered spice products. The success that accompanied this venture, led 'Mahashayji' to set up a factory to manufacture a variety of spices.
In 1959, 'Dadaji' purchased a plot of land in Delhi's Kirti Nagar, where he set up the first of five production facilities that they own today.
As necessary as it was to update the infrastructure, MDH, as a brand, would not have gotten to where they presently are if not for their diversified, consumer-oriented product range.
The approach to push blended spice mixes for a variety of Indian dishes and curries proved successful, alongside the catchy jingle that made their advertisements hugely popular.
The King of spices, too, through the advertisements became an almost immediately recognisable face, a fitting tribute to his rise from tonga driver to the highest earning FMCG CEO in 2017, and Padma Bhushan awardee in 2019.