No more MDH's Owner: once used to run tanga on Delhi's roads, then Rs 2000 crore from spices business. Brand building story

Mahashyam Dharmapala Gulati, the owner of MDH Spices, died of a heart attack at the age of 98 on Wednesday at 5.30 am. He was undergoing treatment in Delhi for the last three weeks. He will be cremated this afternoon. Mahasaya Dharmapala was awarded the Padma Vibhushan last year for his contribution to the industry. He once walked the streets of Delhi and then became an Arab businessman. We are telling their story…

Dharampal's family lived in Sialkot, Pakistan. He was not interested in reading. Father Chunnilal also tried hard but did not mind. In 1933, he did not even test the fifth and left the books forever. Father put him to work at one place, but did not mind here either. One after the other, he left many jobs. The father was worried, then he opened a spice shop in Sialkot. This was his ancestral business. The shop started moving. It was called Mahashian Di Hatti (Monsieur Shop) in Punjabi. That is why his company was named its short form MDH.

Everything was going well At that time the country was divided. Sialkot moves to Pakistan. The family left everything and moved to Amritsar in Delhi in September 1947. Then he was 20 years old. He had seen and felt the pain of Partition very well. He knew that the family had left everything in Pakistan and had to start all over again in India.

There were only 1500 rupees in pocket. The family was a cradle, so they bought a tanga for 650 rupees and carried riders on the streets of Delhi. Two passengers used to take the fare from one ride, but it is not said that the person whose work is dressed. Since Mr. Monsieur was delighted in business, he stopped running Tanga after two months. The capital which was there, started making and selling spices at home.

Dharampal set up the first factory in Kirtinagar, Delhi with little capital. Today MDH is spreading its taste and fragrance in the country and the world. Its spices are found in many countries including London, Sharjah, America, South Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore. There are more than 1000 distributors and more than four lakh retail dealers. The turnover is around 2000 crores. This company has modern machines, which can grind and pack 30 tons of spices in a day.

Monsieur's life was in trouble, so he was always ahead to share the pain of others. He founded the Mahashyya Chunnilal Charitable Trust in the name of his father. Under this, many schools, hospitals, and ashrams have been built, which are engaged in helping the poor and the needy.