History of FMCG in India

The culture of this company started with Prakash Tandon in 1961 and the bastion was carried forward by many stalwarts like Ashok Ganguly, SM Datta and is now held proud by Sanjiv Mehta. But the story, it all really really began in the summer of 1888. Visitors to the Kolkata harbour noticed crates full of Sunlight soap bars, embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers". With it, began an era of marketing branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). And the rest as they say is History.

For the sake of brevity I’ve listed how it pans out thereafter in bullet points below:

1888 - Sunlight soap introduced in India.

1895 - Lifebuoy soap launched; Lever Brothers appoints agents in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Karachi.

1902 - Pears soap introduced in India.

1903 - Brooke Bond Red Label tea launched.

1905 - Lux flakes introduced.

1913 -Vim scouring powder introduced.

1914 - Vinolia soap launched in India.

1918 - Vanaspati introduced by Dutch margarine manufacturers like Vanden Berghs, Jurgens, Verschure Creameries, and Hartogs.

1922 - Rinso soap powder introduced.

1924 - Gibbs dental preparations launched.

1925 - Lever Brothers gets full control of North West Soap Company.

1926 - Hartogs registers Dalda Trademark.

1930 - Unilever is formed on January 1 through merger of Lever Brothers and Margarine Unie. 1888, less than four years after William Hesketh Lever launched Sunlight Soap in England, his newly-founded company, Lever Brothers, started exporting the revolutionary laundry soap to India. By the time the company merged with the Netherlands-based Margarine Unie in 1930 to form Unilever, it had already carved a niche for itself in the Indian market.?Coincidentally, Margarine Unie (there’s much more about them but that’s for another day) also had a strong presence in India, to which it exported Vanaspati (hydrogenated edible fat).

1931 - Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company registered on November 27; Sewri factory site bought.

1932 - Vanaspati manufacture starts at Sewri.

1933 - Incorporated on 17th October, under the name of a Lever Brothers (India) Pvt., Ltd. (LBIL) was the wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever, Ltd. London, UK. - 1933 Lever Brothers India Limited (LBIL) incorporated in India to manufacture Soaps.

1934 - Soap manufacture begins at Sewri factory in October; North West Soap Company's Garden Reach Factory, Kolkata rented and expanded to produce Lever brands.

1935 - On 11th May a subsidiary Co. was incorporated under the name United Traders Pvt. Ltd. for marketing the products of the Co.?or imported from the parent Co.

1937- Mr. Prakash Tandon, one of the first Indian covenanted managers, joins HVM.

1939 - Garden Reach Factory purchased outright; concentration on building up Dalda Vanaspati as a brand.

1941 -?Agencies in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Karachi taken over; company acquires own sales force.

1942 -?Unilever takes firm decision to train Indians to take over junior and senior management positions instead of Europeans.

1943 - Personal Products manufacture begins in India at Garden Reach Factory.

1944 -?Reorganisation of the three companies with common management but separate marketing operations.

1947 -?Pond's Cold Cream launched.

1951 -?Mr. Prakash Tandon becomes first Indian Director. Shamnagar, Tiruchy, and Ghaziabad Vanaspati factories bought.

1955 - 65% of managers are Indians.

There’s a lot more to catch up on. If you want to take the shortcut, click on the link to learn yourself, or you can wait for my next #SundayStory to catch up on the rest with a little bit of market responses after the update on the chronological list of events, including what resulted in Prakash Tandon leading a company that would later come to be known as the manufacturer or industry leaders. Till then, wear masks, stay indoors and stay safe.

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