Unforgotten Brands – Ravalgaon
What started as a way to improve agriculture also created a great organisation that manufactured multiple famous confectionery brands.
The Hindustan Aircraft Company (now Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.), the Vishakapatnam Shipyard (now Hindustan Shipyard Ltd.), and Premier Automobiles (now Premier Automobiles) were all founded by the industrialist Seth Walchand Hirachand, who is better known as the “Father of Transportation” in India due to his focus on air, sea, and road travel.
All of this demonstrated not just his business zeal but also his passion for supporting Indian manufacturing. His desire to serve his country led him to work in the sugar sector.
In 1923, while running his construction enterprise, Hindustan Construction Company Ltd., he was said to have heard about a vast, barren area that had great promise for agricultural development. The 1,500 acres in issue were located in Ravalgaon, a small hamlet in Maharashtra’s Nashik region. To reach that little town, Walchand rode the rails.
Walchand said that India’s industrialization and investment in agriculture must go hand in hand for the country to thrive economically. He bought the property and then cleared the whole plot with the aid of earthmovers and agricultural experts.
Sugar
He experimented with several crops before landing on sugarcane. By assisting sugarcane growers during a period when sugarcane production was unprofitable. It took the plantations nearly a decade to start producing a good crop.
Manufacturing
He constructed one of the first sugar mills in India, and in 1933, he established Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd. A thriving community developed in the region surrounding the mill.
Since the mill gave people a place to work and a decent wage while also giving local farmers a market for their sugarcane, it was a win-win situation. At least one member of every household in the Ravalgaon-Malegaon belt is said to have done business with or worked for the enterprise in some capacity.
The next year, he replicated his first accomplishment at Kalamb (another arid and uncultivated area, now known as Walchandnagar) close to Pune. It is said that these two factories at Ravalgaon and Walchandnagar were the catalysts for the sugar revolution in Maharashtra.
In the 1940s, a portion of the sugar supply was redirected into the ‘Ravalgaon’ candy manufacturing line. Orange hard-boiled candies and Laco, a caramelised milk candy, were the first candies produced by the company. The 1980s saw the introduction of branded, colourfully wrapped confectionary, which included a variety of sweets and toffees.
Pan Pasand (India’s first paan-flavoured candy), Cheery (orange, raspberry, and lemon flavoured), Mango Mood, Assorted Centre (orange, raspberry, lemon, and pineapple-jelly-centred), and Coffee Break are the popular candies.
All the sweets are vegetarian and made with real ingredients like coffee powder, mango pulp, and milk (only fresh, pure milk is used in the production process). Manufacturers have made use of colour, shape, and feel to pique customers’ interest in all of these variants.
Great Advertising
Those commercials for Ravalgaon certainly stand out. ‘Shaadi-aur tumse?’ is a commercial for Pan Pasand. With the catchy slogan “pan ka swad gazab ki mitaas,” the makers of the popular mouthwash Kabhi nahin! were able to convince consumers that even bad news could be sweetened by using their product.
Mango Mood debuted a commercial that cleverly depicted the range of human emotions.
Some of the items are renamed (to make them more marketable) and repackaged (in twist, double-twist, and pillow pouches) periodically to increase their longevity and maintain their quality. The reliability of the product has earned Ravalgaon a dedicated customer base.
