The Calcutta Chemical Company was a pharmaceutical company established in the city of Calcutta (now

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

) in 1916 by

K.C. Das Krishna Chandra Das (1869–1934), commonly referred to as K.C. Das, was a Bengali confectioner, entrepreneur, businessman and Bengali cultural icon of the early 20th century. Born in 1869 in Bag bazar, Kolkata, Krishna Chandra was the only s ...

, B.N. Maitra, and R.N. Sen. Its founding was at the time of the

Swadeshi Movement The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

in Bengal, where the spirit of entrepreneurship was encouraged in opposition to British manufactured goods. Although it manufactured a variety of products, the company was best known for being the originators of

Margo *** People * Margo (actress) (1917–1985), Mexican-American actress and dancer * Margo (magician), American magic performer and actress * Margo (singer), Irish singer * Margo (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name P ...

soap and Neem Toothpaste, as well as Lavender Dew Powder. It was primarily run by the Dasgupta family (descendants of K.C. Das) until its acquisition by

Shaw Wallace Shaw Wallace & Company Limited, abbreviated to SWC, is an Indian liquor manufacturer headquartered in the Wallace House in Kolkata, West Bengal. It was established in 1886 by Robert Gordon Shaw and Charles William Wallace.Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organi ...

, which incorporated

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organi ...

India. More recently, the company once again changed hands and was acquired by VVF, a contract soap manufacturer, while Henkel retained the rights to the products and focused on their marketing.{{Cite news, date=2012-03-14, title=Kolkata's comeback brands, language=en, work=The Hindu Business Line, url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/kolkatas-comeback-brands/article2991817.ece, url-status=live, access-date=2017-06-19, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104061751/https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/kolkatas-comeback-brands/article23071437.ece, archive-date=2020-11-04 The company was owned by the family of senior journalist and

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

Swapan Dasgupta Swapan Dasgupta (born 3 October 1955) is an Indian journalist and politician. He is influential within the Indian right wing, writing columns for leading English dailies espousing Hindu nationalism. He is a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. ...

until its acquisition by Shaw Wallace.

Popular brands

Margo (soap) Margo is a brand of soap manufactured in India. The soap has margosa ''Azadirachta indica'', commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus ''Azadirachta'', and ...

* Neem Toothpaste * Aramusk Soap * Chek Detergent * Lavender Dew Powder * MahaBhringraj Oil

References

Manufacturing companies based in Kolkata Indian companies established in 1916 Pharmaceutical companies established in 1916 Pharmaceutical companies of India