Dalda is a brand of

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fat ...

(

hydrogenated Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic ...

vegetable cooking oil) popular in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

History

An individual by the name Hussein Dada, used to import vanaspati ghee from a Dutch company before the 1930s as a cheap substitute for desi ghee or clarified butter, prepared either from water buffalo's milk or cow's milk. In

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

of those colonial days, desi ghee was considered an expensive product and not easily affordable for the common public. It was then used sparingly in Indian households. Hence the need existed for a cheaper and affordable substitute. In 1931, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company was incorporated to manufacture synthetic ''vanaspati'' ''ghee.'' Until the early 1930s, hydrogenated vegetable oil available in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

was imported into the country by Hussein Dada and Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co (now called

Hindustan Unilever Limited Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a consumer goods company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a subsidiary of Unilever, a British company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products, water pur ...

and

Unilever Pakistan Unilever Pakistan Limited, formerly Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited( ur, ), is a Pakistani fast-moving consumer goods company based in Karachi. It is a subsidiary of the British multinational company. History The town of Rahim Yar Khan was t ...

). Hindustan Vanaspati wanted to start manufacturing hydrogenated vegetable oil locally and hence a new category of hydrogenated oil under the new brand name Dalda was born. Until then, Hussein Dada had been selling his imported product under the name Dada Vanaspati. He was asked for his cooperation by Lever Brothers to let the company insert the letter 'L' from Lever Brothers into the new brand name to make it Dalda. He agreed to the name change. Dalda was introduced in 1937, becoming one of the longest-running brands in India and Pakistan. In 1939, The Dalda film was an advertisement created for the marketing campaign for a

vanaspati Vanaspati (Devanagari: ) is the Sanskrit word that now refers to the entire plant kingdom. However, according to ''Charaka Samhitā'' and '' Sushruta Samhita'' medical texts and the '' Vaisesikas'' school of philosophy, "vanaspati" is limited to p ...

(cooking fat) brand called Dalda. Lintas created the India's first multi-media advertising campaign. Hindustan Vanaspati's "Dalda" product came to be synonymous with the genre, to the extent that the main style of hydrogenated vegetable oil is commonly designated generically as " vanaspati ghee". In 2003, Unilever announced the strategic decision to sell of the Dalda brand in both

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

In India

In 2003,

Bunge Limited Bunge Limited is an American agribusiness and food company, incorporated in Bermuda, and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. As well as being an international soybean exporter, it is also involved in food processing, grain tr ...

acquired the Dalda brand from

for reportedly under Rs 100 crore. Then Bunge made Dalda an umbrella brand ( brand repositioning) and started selling different types of refined oils (soyabean, sunflower, Palmolive, etc) based on geography.

In Pakistan

On 30 March 2004,

accepted an offer of Rs. 1.33 billion for the sale of its Dalda brand and related business of edible oils and fats to the newly incorporated company Dalda Foods (Pvt.) Limited. This was a one-of-a-kind corporate transaction in Pakistan, in which a group of six senior Unilever executives formed a management group and successfully purchased the Dalda business from Unilever Pakistan. This was achieved under the banner of the newly formed company Dalda Foods (Pvt.) Limited with the support of key financial institutions and Pakistan's biggest edible oil importer Westbury Group. In 2017, Dalda Foods was getting ready to get on the

Pakistan Stock Exchange The Pakistan Stock Exchange ( ur, , abbreviated as PSX) is a stock exchange in Pakistan with trading floors in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. PSX was classified by MSCI as a frontier market on 8 September 2021. The PSX was established on 11 ...

.Equity market: three IPOs fetched Rs 8.6 billion
Business Recorder (newspaper), Published 9 December 2017, Retrieved 20 December 2021

References

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External links

Dalda foods website

Dalda India

Dalda Foods Pakistan
Indian cuisine Cooking oils Food and drink companies of Pakistan Indian brands Food and drink in India Pakistani brands Vegetable oils

History

In India

In Pakistan

See also

References

External links