Investors have been apprehensive since rumors of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. acquiring Mahashian Di Hatti Pvt Ltd (MDH) saturated the market. The shares of the spice company have dropped by nearly 4% as a result of the announcement.
MDH executives slammed the FMCG conglomerate HUL. MDH has denied rumors of a takeover, claiming that the company grew from a little shop in Sialkot to become one of India’s largest spice producers.
Founded as a humble shop in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, MDH is a ‘start-up’ success story from a time before the term was even created in its modern form. MDH’s journey from Sialkot to a modest business in Delhi started by a Partition immigrant to a conglomerate that produces over 62 types of spices in 150 containers has been nothing short of remarkable. And practically everyone recognizes the company’s patriarch, Dharampal Gulati, Chunnilal’s son. Presently, MDH has valued at anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 crore.
Mahashay Dharampal was the second of Chunnilal’s three sons who had a spice shop in Sialkot. The family relocated to an Amritsar refugee camp after the partition, but Dharampal opted to travel to Delhi on September 27, 1947. He bought a horse carriage and began transporting tourists to the capital from there. When it didn’t work, Dharampal began selling jaggery on Delhi’s Ajmal Khan Road, according to a brochure on MDH’s founder’s life.
Because his memorable visage and the brand’s signature tune are forever carved in the memories of consumers, MDH has one of the strongest brands remembers in a crowded market.
MDH has been taken over by his son, Rajiv Gulati, who is credited with bringing the company international recognition. The company presently exports to the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, Southeast Asia, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as having a production facility in Sharjah.
