Business

After discovering that India lacked a two-wheeler manufacturing environment in 1949, two Parsi gentlemen, Farrokh Irani and Rustom Irani, set out for Czechoslovakia to introduce t…

Nevill Vintcent was a big, blond Britisher born in 1902 in South Africa. He was a good boxer, too. He was commissioned into the Royal Air Force at 20 and, after a short stint in W…

Four Gujarati friends, Champaklal Choksey, Chimanlal Choksi, Suryakant Dani, and Arvind Vakil, founded Asian Paints in a garage, rented at Rs 75 per month in Gaiwadi, Girgaon, Mum…

Rajiv Badlani was working for MCM (Mass Communication and Marketing), a hot shop in advertising, at the time. MCM was founded by a maverick, Kersey Katrak. Rajiv chose to leave as…

During the Swadeshi Movement, people were joining the boycott of foreign products that Mahatma Gandhi had called for. Local inks had not yet been developed at the time. Gan…

After Bengal was divided, a pre-Gandhian Swadeshi movement swept the country. Locals set fire to imported clothing and picketed stores that sold foreign items. Citizens were commi…

By the late 1970s, HM was ready to introduce a more modern car to the Indian market. The only other car they had in production at that time was the Ambassador, which was based on …

Just hearing the word "Parle G" conjures up images of biscuits dipped in warm milk and rapidly eaten before they disintegrated into the drink. Most Indians have grown up eating th…

Mansukh Lal Mahadev Bhai Kothari was born in a tiny hamlet in the Nareli area of Gujarat in July 1925. He was the oldest of eight children. As a young man, Mansukbhai made the jou…

The brand "Sumeet" comes from a dare issued by a lady to her husband. Madhuri Mathur,  in the 1960s, used a German-made Braun blender. It was effective, but the …

Sahu Shreyans Prasad Jain, brother of Times of India owner and philanthropist Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, founded the chemical firm Dhrangadhra Chemical Works (DCW) Ltd. DCW owned…

A Dutch firm introduced vanaspati ghee to India in the 1930s as a low-cost alternative to desi ghee, or clarified butter made from cow's milk. During the colonial era in British I…

Archives reveal that Jamsetji Tata began processing seeds for oil at an experimental facility he had established in Bombay. The concept originated during World War I. Burjorji Pad…

Tata Oil Mills Company created Moti, a sandalwood-scented soap, in the 1970s. The branding, marketing, and design of all the products were done intentionally to make them seem exc…