thumb|right|200px|Dalda vegetable ghee

Dalda is a vegetable oil (hydrogenated vegetable cooking oil) brand popular in South Asia (specifically in the Indian region).

History

Dalda (formerly Dada) was the name of the Dutch company that imported vanaspati ghee into India in the 1930s as a cheap substitute for desi ghee or clarified butter. In British India, desi ghee was considered an expensive product and not easily affordable for the common public and was used sparingly in Indian households, hence the need for a cheaper and more affordable substitute. Until the early 1930s, hydrogenated vegetable oil available in India was imported into the country by Hussein Dada and Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co (now called Hindustan Unilever Limited and Unilever Pakistan).

In 1939, The Dalda film was an advertisement created for the marketing campaign for a vanaspati (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". 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, Unilever Pakistan accepted an offer of Rs.133 crores 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.

See also

  • Harvey Duncan Dalda film
  • Margarine

References

  • Dalda foods website
  • Dalda India
  • Dalda Foods Pakistan