Mahashay’ Dharampal Gulati, the owner of the spices brand ‘MDH’ passed away at around 5:30 am today after suffering from cardiac arrest. He was 98.
Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, famously known as the ‘MDH uncle’, ‘Dadaji’, ‘Masala King’, or ‘King of Spices’ was the founder of MDH (Mahshian Di Hatti), one of India’s biggest spice brand.
According to reports, Gulati was undergoing treatment at a Delhi hospital for the last three weeks. Gulati suffered a cardiac arrest on December 3 morning.
Gulati was born in 1919 in Pakistan’s Sialkot, where his father Chuni Lal had set up a small shop in 1919. However, after partition in 1947, the family moved to Delhi in India. In 1953, Gulati rented a shop in Chandni Chowk, named it Mahashiyan Di Hatti (MDH), and started selling spices. which is now a Rs 1500 crore empire runs the masala company, about 20 schools and a hospital.
The company was officially established in 1959 when Gulati bought land in Kirti Nagar and set up a manufacturing unit. Currently, MDH Spices, which reportedly manufactures nearly 50 different varieties of spices, has 15 factories across the country and sells its products across the globe, as per reports. Gulati became highest-paid FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) CEO in India in 2017.
In 2019, Gulati was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award.