This Man Ran Away From Home At 12, Has A Major Nostalgic Connection To Our Childhood, Now Runs Rs 13,682 Crore Company

A common man, Pardi, who was just 12 years old, moved to Mumbai from a small town near Valsad in South Gujarat. Here we come with the story of Mohanlal Chauhan, the man, and mind behind Parle Group.

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New Delhi: Similar to how Xerox is synonymous with photocopying and Cadbury with chocolates, Parle-G has become a byword for biscuits for the millions of people in this country who enjoy munching on them with their morning or evening cups of tea. But do you know the mind behind this Parle Group? Let's have a look into the journey of one of India's oldest biscuit brands founder. So there! 

The current Billion Dollar Empire, the Parle Group, which has been divided into Parle Products, Parle Agro, and Parle Bisleri, was founded and was led by Mohanlal Chauhan. It all started in the early 1900s, then!

A common man, Pardi, who was just 12 years old, moved to Mumbai from a small town near Valsad in South Gujarat at the same time as India was advancing towards its independence. He went under the name Mohanlal Chauhan.

At that time, learning to sew was the only dream this man had. To his amazement, he quickly achieved his goal and, to top it off, by the age of 18 was able to open a store in Gamdevi, Mumbai.

As his financial situation improved, he also established two independent businesses, D Mohanlal & Co. and Chhiba Durlabh.

He also took sure to educate his kids on every trade secret, which is something you cannot learn in school, before finally bringing them into the company. Each of the five brothers shared the work equally and produced perfect results.

Establishment Of Parle Group

The brothers ultimately made the decision to stop operating their tailor shop during World War I and start a confectionary company instead. Thus, the Parle Group was established.

When the First World War was over and Mohanlal Chauhan felt his sons could manage the company on their own, he made the decision to formally retire in 1936.

The five were given different responsibilities to operate the business efficiently while taking into account each person's strengths. Pitambar handled the financial side, Maneklal was in charge of fund-raising, Narottam and Jayantilal handled the technology side, and Kantilal was in charge of day-to-day management.

Currently, the company had a big debt hanging over it, and Maneklal's humour was the only thing that had kept them afloat.

In fact, there was a moment when their records unexpectedly showed a remarkable profit of Rs 3000. As a result of their persistent issues and mounting debt, they had reached the point where they were actually in the process of selling to W H Brady.

There hasn't been a turnback since then!

First Biscuit Product

The company started to progressively expand, and just ten years later, in 1939, during the height of World War II, Parle announced the release of their first biscuit. In accordance with the law, they were initially only permitted to produce them for the use of soldiers engaged in combat and were not permitted to sell them to domestic or foreign users.

However, everything works out for the best. Similar to Gluco, Parle had the chance to learn from its failures and, when the British left India in 1947, the biggest opportunity came knocking.

They not only introduced their biscuits to the general Indian customer, but they also did it with the "Freedom from British Campaign" ad campaign. And in no time at all, Parle was a household name!