It's a brand that has been making our food tasty for years. Their flavours are household names in India, and in many parts of the world. And there’s no way any of us could have missed the photo of the old man in the regal red turban on the 'masala' packets. Yes, we are talking about MDH and its founder, Mahashay Dharampal Gulati.

His rags-to-riches story is the stuff legends are made of. MDH — an acronym for ‘Mahashian Di Hatti, which means ‘respected man’s shop’ — made the concept of ready-to-use spices a reality for consumers across the world.

Mahashay Dharampal Gulati was born in 1923 in Sialkot, then India (now in Pakistan). However, the story begins in 1919, when his father, Mahashay Chunni Lal Gulati, set up a shop to sell spices and called it ‘Mahashian Di Hatti’.

Dharampal was not very interested in studies and had dropped out of his school he was in class five. He started selling mirrors, soap, etc. and also tried his hand at carpentry. But none of these ventures took off. So, he had no option but to assist his father in selling spices. As the business grew locally, they became popular as ‘Deggi Mirch Wale’.

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But 1947 and the partition changed their lives completely. The family had to leave everything behind and move to India. Dharampal reached a refugee camp in Amritsar, from where, soon he and his brother left for Delhi with only Rs 1,500.

On reaching Delhi, Dharampal bought a tonga — a horse-drawn two-wheeled cart — for Rs 650 and began ferrying people. Soon, he let go of the tonga because it was not bringing in enough money to sustain the family’s expenses. Then he bought a shop measuring 14 feet by 9 feet in Karol Bagh, Delhi, and started his family business of ground spices afresh.

As word spread about the ‘Sialkot's Spicemakers’, MDH gained local fame. His business grew, and he started another store in 1953. In 1959, he bought a plot in Kirti Nagar, Delhi, to start a factory for producing ground spices.

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One of the most innovative things the company did was introducing packaged masala. Over the decades, MDH achieved massive success in the spices market in India and became a familiar taste among many households.

Once while shooting a TV commercial for MDH, the actor who was playing the role of the bride’s father failed to show up. Dharampal decided to take up the role and get the work done. Ever since, he has appeared in all MDH commercials.

Now, the company now sells over 65 products and has lakhs of retailers and at least 1,000 wholesale dealers across the country. According to a source, the company earned about Rs 2,000 crore as operating income and Rs 420 crore as net income in the 2019-20 fiscal. Today, the machines at the MDH factories can produce over 30 tonne of spices in a single day.

Dharampal died on December 3, 2020 at the age of 97. Before his death, even at that old age he used to regularly make rounds of his factories. In 2017, Dharampal had taken Rs 21 crore as salary, making him the highest-paid CEO of an Indian FMCG company.

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Dharampal had once said 90 percent of his salary went into charities. He had established a hospital with over 300 beds and built over 20 schools. In April 2020, in an act of kindness, he donated 7,500 PPE kits to health workers fighting COVID-19.

Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of New Delhi, had even tweeted about it. He wrote: “I’m overwhelmed with gratitude by Mahashay ji’s gesture to donate 7500 #ppekits in addition to his generous contribution to the #CMReliefFund.”

Each opportunity to meet @MahashyDharmpal ji is a blessing.

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude by Mahashay ji's gesture to donate 7500 #ppekits in addition to his generous contribution to the #CMReliefFund.

Sir, your kindness gives #Delhi hope & strength in these difficult times. pic.twitter.com/7ckWAbnDUn

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) April 28, 2020

(Edited by : Jomy)

First Published:Feb 23, 2021 7:48 PM IST