Description
The story began in the 1930s when Dutch traders introduced hydrogenated oil (vanaspati ghee) to India as a substitute for ghee.
Untold Story
Dates printed on it, this is what we used to call the real ghee of poor Indians. Till a few years ago, this packet was definitely seen in all our homes. Mamta’s real vegetable dalda is still there. Passes the test. Whether you want to make Puri Kachori or sweet dishes.
If it is not made in Dalda then it does not taste good. But where has this vegetable ghee, which was the most favorite of every middle class Indian at that time, disappeared today? Did people stop eating it because animal fat was used in it? We are going to know all that in detail in today’s Blog. Now friends, whether you talk about the paratha street in Chandni Chowk of Delhi or the hot sweets of any famous confectioner.
Till a few years ago, most of the things were made in Dalda only, but this brand was started 94 years ago when Tata, a Netherlands company, sold Vanaspati Ghee in India as a cheap alternative to Desi Ghee. Used to do this, because the pockets of Indians had become so light during the British Raj that desi ghee had completely disappeared from middle and lower middle class homes and it used to be the pride of kitchens only of Nawabs or royal families. Now at that time there were not as many vegetable oil options as there are today.
In such a situation, the need for vegetable ghee was felt to fill the gap that ghee had created between wealth and poverty. In this way, this hydrogen vanaspati ghee of Dalda & Company started being imported into the country, which was sold under the name of Dalda Vanaspati. Now you might be thinking that you have heard of Vanaspati Ghee but what is this Hydrogenated Vanaspati Ghee? Actually, it is a method in which hydrogen is added to cooking oil or any vegetable oil so that it gets converted into solid form and at one time our favorite Dalda was also made in the same way.
Now, a British manufacturing company, Lever Brothers, which we know today as Unilever, noticed Dada’s vegetable ghee. By this time, they had become quite successful in the beauty products category and had also entered the food product business in Europe. In such a situation, he thought why not start with vegetable ghee in India because it seemed to be a very profitable market. Thinking this, Lever Brothers bought the rights to make this vegetable ghee from Dada & Company.
But Dada & Company had a condition that in future also the branding of the product would be with the same name i.e. Dada. However, Lever Brothers also wanted to associate their name with this brand, so they agreed to this agreement and then finally the middle solution came out that the ad of Lever Brothers should be put in the middle of the name Dada and this In a way, Dada’s name changed to Dalda.
After purchasing its rights, preparations for making Vanaspati Ghee started, for which he formed a company named Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Limited and a factory was set up in Shivadi, which is today a part of Mumbai. To make Vanaspati Ghee, many people were hired, machinery was installed and after passing many stages, Dalda was finally launched in 1937. Now, not only was it a good alternative to desi ghee, its market demand was also quite high. In such a situation, it should not have taken much time for Dalda to establish its identity. But there was a big problem in this that this ghee had a strange smell which Indians did not like at all.
That is why it became a big challenge for the company to make Dalda stand in front of desi ghee in terms of taste and aroma. It had been two years since Dalda was launched in the market but it was still struggling to make its mark. The company was also worried as to what they should do so that people start buying their products. And friends, this is where the advertising agency Lintas enters, which is still known for its excellent marketing strategy.
Harvey Duncan, who worked at Lintas, took charge of Dalda’s ad campaign and created India’s first multimedia ad campaign in 1939. It was basically a short film, which was shown in theaters before the movie started or during the interval. Apart from this, lakhs of pamphlets were distributed. Advertisements were printed in newspapers and magazines in which it was shown that mothers who take care of their children use Dalda. Apart from this, the company also brought out Dalda’s Cookbook from which people used to learn various new recipes. Along with this, Dalda also got promotion.
Now friends, all these methods of promotion were absolutely perfect for educated people, but what about those who neither went to theaters nor knew how to read and write. For this, Lintas came up with a very amazing idea in which he started roaming on the streets in a round van that looked like a Dalda tin so that he could get people’s attention. And yes, Dalda’s marketing team started setting up stalls at various places. Where people could stand and touch the dalda to match its texture with the desi ghee and also taste the foods made from it. And friends, after knowing him so closely, people started developing confidence in Dalda.
On top of that, the tagline like ‘Made from Hundred Percent Pure Vanaspati Ghee’ helped in winning the trust of the people. Besides, the photo of the palm tree on the yellow box also cleared the remaining doubts of the people. In this way, gradually people started using this cheap alternative of desi ghee and the market of Dalda kept expanding. The company created a new strategy to fulfill the needs of all types of customers, under which they started launching Dalda packets in the market in different sizes.
For example, for low-consumption households, small plastic or tin packets of one kg were introduced. Get big plastic containers for big families and square and big tin containers for restaurants or dhabas. Now friends, Lever Brothers already had a strong distribution network, using it they took Dalda to every corner of the country. And this is how Dalda Vanaspati Ghee gained momentum in the market and it became a reliable alternative to pure desi ghee in Indian homes.
The price of Dalda was much lower than desi ghee. That is why buying Dalda proved to be less expensive for poor and middle class people. Apart from this, it was advertised in such a way that people started feeling that it is very beneficial not only for taste but also for health. And during this period, due to shortage of milk and ghee, the government also promoted vegetable ghee, which made the path of Dalda even easier.
For the first 40 years, Dalda did not have any brand in the market and till 1980, this company remained alone in occupying the market. And yes, the amazing thing is that Dalda became famous not only in India but its popularity was seen in many other countries of Asia. Now friends, in the last few years we all know that the demand for Dalda has decreased significantly in the Indian market.
But Dalda is still used extensively in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. But friends, the question is what happened that its popularity started decreasing in India. In fact, friends, after independence, following the footsteps of Dalda, many other brands entered the market like Ganga, Rath, Gemini, Suhana, Ashoka and Panghat. Due to increasing competition in the market, Dalda’s market share started decreasing. But because it was an old and rich company, it was not difficult for it to get ahead of the competition.
The biggest challenge for Dalda was how to silence the voices rising against him. Because by the end of nineteen, Dalda was embroiled in a huge controversy. In fact, during this time, demands for banning Dalda started rising. The matter escalated so much that the issue reached the Parliament because at that time a large section of people were against Dalda and they used to call it Vilayati Ghee and fake form of real Ghee.
The protest increased so much that people started shying away from eating food at weddings fearing that the food might be made from imported ghee. A strange kind of heat started spreading regarding Dalda. People started considering it adulterated and harmful for health. Seeing the increasing concern in the minds of people regarding Vanaspati Ghee, the then Lok Sabha member Thakurdas Bhargava had introduced a bill that the government should stop the production and sale of Vanaspati Ghee in the country.
Many people were in support of this bill but still it was not passed. Now the first reason for this was that at that time there was a huge shortage of milk in the country and the second was that not every person could use desi ghee. In such a situation, banning Dalda would not be right at all. Apart from this, one of the main reasons for not banning was employment. India had just gained independence and was trying to stand up.
Unemployment was at its peak and the pressure on the government to provide jobs was also increasing. In such a situation, if they had banned the production and sale of vegetable ghee, then thousands of people would have become unemployed. Because till that time there were 47 vegetable ghee factories in the country, where more than 30 thousand people were working and making all of them unemployed could have a huge impact on the country’s economy.
The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding this controversy. A survey was conducted so that the public’s opinion could also be taken on this entire matter. But no clearer than this. The result did not come out and Dalda continued to be sold in the country despite the controversies. But then later on. In the 1990s, voices were once again raised against DALDA and this time the reason for it was a research which was done on the effect of trans fat on the human body.
The amazing thing is that Unilever itself had funded this research, which later became a bone of contention for itself. Because this research revealed. How badly does trans fat affect our health? It increases bad cholesterol in the body and reduces good cholesterol. Due to which the risk of heart related diseases increases. Now, although these trans fats are also found in some natural fats, but in very small quantities. But as we had already discussed, hydrogen technology was used to make Dalda Vanaspati Ghee, hence trans fat was found in very high quantity in it.
In view of this, the Food and Drug Administration of USA made a regulation that companies should label their food products as to how much trans fat is available in it. After this initiative, the use of vegetable ghee started decreasing in the US and many countries even banned it. Here in India too, people started becoming a little aware after this research and started using Dalda less. But friends, even this did not cause as much loss to the company as the rumors did. In fact, during the 20’s, Dalda was also accused of mixing animal fat in it.
Now, vegetable ghee was a subject of controversy in our country for a long time and the demand to ban it was also being raised from time to time. In such a situation, people did not delay at all in accepting this rumor as truth. Apart from this, there is a very large population of vegetarians in India, who were badly hit by the fact that it contains animal fat and friends, even those who were not vegetarian, started having doubts in their minds that they don’t know which animal’s fat might have been found in it.
Therefore, without any argument, people flatly refused to use it. Although the company tried hard to reach people’s kitchens, it was of no use. Because by this time many refined oil brands had come into the market which were healthier than vegetable ghee. In such a situation, people’s inclination towards these new oils started increasing and gradually Dalda was out of their grocery list forever.
Dalda tried its best to make a comeback but neither could it win the trust of its customers nor could it save its falling market share. And friends, finally being fed up with this, Hindustan Unilever sold it to an American food company for Rs 2003. In this way, Dalda, which once had a monopoly in the Indian market, could not survive its controversies and new competitors and almost completely disappeared from the market. On the other hand, it became difficult for other brands of vanaspati ghee in India to survive in front of new refined oil brands.
Therefore, some of these brands merged with international companies and some were acquired by Indian companies like Emami Agro, Adani Wilmar and the like. Now friends, if we talk about today, Bunj has tried his best to revive the Dalda brand. For the first time in 2007, the company had launched a wide range of edible oils under the Dalda brand name, which was introduced with the tagline ‘Husband’s Choice’.
But the company soon realized that their tagline was not working nor were they able to reach the market. That’s why in 2013, Benz relaunched its product lineup with the tagline Dabba Khali Pet Full. Additionally, the company ran several campaigns to reposition the brand. The effect of which was that today Dalda’s edible oil has made its place in many homes.
But friends, what happened to Dalda Vanaspati Ghee? The amazing thing is that Dalda’s vegetable ghee has also changed a lot keeping in view the demand of time because now you can see clearly written on its packet ‘Transfat Free’. But the question is how did it become trans fat free? Actually to make it no longer hydrogen but a different one. The technique being used is called interest verification.
In this process, enzymes are used to make vegetable ghee. This means that the alternative dalda of pure desi ghee which was tagged as unhealthy is no longer as harmful as before. However, most people are still unaware of this and consider Dalda to be unhealthy as before. This is the reason why whether the Indian market will adopt vanaspati ghee again or not still remains a big question. By the way, please tell us by commenting whether Dalda was used in your homes or not.
Anyway, see you again with the powerful explanation of the Success Story.
