{"id":2666,"date":"2020-07-02T12:24:47","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T12:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doerlife.com\/?p=2666"},"modified":"2020-07-21T07:54:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T07:54:41","slug":"spicy-trail-travails-mdh-masalas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebglory.com\/doerlife.com\/spicy-trail-travails-mdh-masalas\/","title":{"rendered":"The spicy trail and travails of MDH Masalas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Background <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahashian Di Hatti Private Limited, better known as MDH Masalas, is\u00a0India\u2019s second largest spice producer with a 12% market share started by Mahashay Dharmapal Gulati. The 97-year-old Mahashay Dharmapal Gulati\u00a0was born in 1923 in Sialkot, Punjab Province of British India (present day Pakistan). There his father Chunni Lal Gulati ran a masala shop since 1919 called Mahashian Di Hatti<\/em>. The spices became famous and they were called Deggi Mirch wale<\/em>. Dharampal grew up with 2 brothers and 5 sisters, father Chunni Lal and mother Chanan Devi. A young Mahashay Dharampal who dropped out of school after Std V, joined his father to help in the business. This is where he learned about different spices and creating masalas. But things took an ugly turn during partition and his father\u2019s business was destroyed. The family left everything behind to come to India.\u00a0This is the story of MDH from a refugee camp in Amritsar to Delhi and how it grew into India\u2019s Rs 2000 crore<\/a> spice company.<\/p>\n

\"MDH
Image credits: Oneindia\u00a0<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Family Man<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the year 1941, Dharampal Gulati got married to Leelawanti. Though he was only 18 then, family responsibility got him to strive harder. At that time, he used to visit Amritsar to buy chillies, turmeric and other spices and grind them in a mill set up below his Sialkot home. In 1947, they left Sialkot and arrived in a refugee camp in Amritsar, India.\u00a0 Dharampal, had arrived with a meagre rupees 1500. In order to earn for the family, he bought a tanga (horse and carriage) for rupees 650 starting as a tangawala in the free India ferrying passengers on Qutub Road. On October 10, 1948, he sold the tanga to start a small shop in Ajmal Khan Road, Karol Bagh called \u2018Deggi Mirch Wale\u2019. This was the rebirth of the spicy success story of MDH masalas and its Indian \u2018King of Masala\u2019.<\/p>\n

Dharampal and Leelawanti had two sons and six daughters.\u00a0 In 1992, they lost their son Sanjeev. In the same year, Dharampal became a widower.<\/p>\n

Small Beginnings<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1953, after the success of his first shop at Karol Bagh, he rented another in Chandni Chowk. In 1954, he founded\u00a0Roopak Stores in Karol Bagh,\u00a0which was India\u2019s first modern Masala Store, the concept that started to gain immense popularity. India was getting ready to buy \u2018readymade masalas\u2019 which until then was unheard of and more of a secretly guarded recipe in every home. Seeing this shift, Dharampal handed over the store to his younger brother Satpal, to enter large scale manufacturing of masalas. In 1959, he set up the first manufacturing plant at Kirti Nagar in Delhi, continuing to call it \u2018Mahashian Di Hatti Limited\u2019\u00a0(MDH), which loosely translated to \u2018the shop of a magnanimous man\u2019 in Punjabi.<\/p>\n

There was no looking back for MDH Masalas. Gulati slowly expanded the business to 15 factories.<\/p>\n

\"MDH
Image credits: Next Big Brand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The MDH Masala Milestones <\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are some interesting facts about MDH:<\/p>\n