MDH owner Dharampal Gulati, fondly known as the King of Spices, died of cardiac arrest on Thursday. He was 97.
According to reports, “Mahashay” Dharampal Gulati had been undergoing treatment at a Delhi hospital for the last three weeks.
Gulati was the face of MDH spices and was even awarded Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, in 2019.
He was synonymous with MDH advertisements and featured in all TV and print ads of the brand.
Gulati was born in 1923 in Pakistan’s Sialkot and joined his father’s spice business. After moving to India during partition, he opened a shop in New Delhi.
From there he went on to build the Mahashian Di Hatti or MDH masala empire, which eventually became India’s leading spices manufacturers. It has 15 offices and factories in London and Dubai.
He was also the highest-paid CEO in the FMCG sector. Reportedly, he took home over Rs 21cr as salary in the last fiscal.
Several people took to Twitter to express condolence.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia were among the first to post tributes on Twitter.
He was not just popular for his spices but was also a philanthropist who donated 90 per cent of his salary to charity.
Really, Gulati spiced up millions of lives.
