Godrej - over 125 years young.
Our story began as part of
India's Swadeshi movement -
the original 'Make in India'
movement.
Ardeshir Godrej, after a few failed
ventures, sets up a lock company.
For him, the key to success turns out
to be locks.
We launch Chavi, the first soap in the world
to be made without animal fat.
We score for Swadeshi and ahimsa.
Soon after, we launch another soap,
Godrej No.2. Why the name? To borrow
Ardeshir Godrej's explanation, "If people
find No.2 so good, they'll believe No.1 to
be even better!"
Ardeshir Godrej, an ardent nationalist,
donates 3 lakh rupees to the Tilak Swaraj
Fund, the largest single contribution
back then.
One of our most treasured moments:
Mahatma Gandhi, in a letter to a favour-seeking
competitor, says: “I hold my brother Godrej in
such high regard that if your enterprise is likely
to harm him in any way, I regret very much that I
cannot give you my blessings.”
Godrej No.1 is born into swadeshi fervour
and is fondly endorsed by many, including
Rabindranath Tagore, Annie Besant and
C. Rajagopalachari. Today, it is one of India's
biggest soap brands.
Public Provident Fund is introduced at Godrej,
14 years before the Government of India
mandates it.
The then Government of Bombay auctions
Vikhroli village to Pirojsha Godrej. Over the
years, Vikhroli transforms into a green,
industrial township that cares for its people
and the environment.
We go green way before it is cool to do so
and decide to let mangroves be mangroves.
You will find a dense cover of mangroves,
nearly 3x the size of New York's Central Park,
owned and cared for by us,
in the heart of our estate in Mumbai.
A devastating explosion at the Bombay
docks leaves terrible carnage in its wake.
Among the few things to survive the blast
are Godrej safes.
We were thrilled to make 1.7 million ballot boxes
for India's first steps as a democracy. K. R.
Thanewalla remembers, "I know that our best
was around 22,000 ballot boxes per day!
We would be at the plant from quarter to
seven onwards and rarely left before midnight."
Cinthol is launched on India's Independence Day.
Together with Godrej No.1, Cinthol makes us
the second largest soap player in India.
Our first hair colour product, a liquid hair dye,
is a runaway success. We introduce a series of
innovative hair care products through the years,
becoming a leading player in Asia,
Africa and Latin America.
The Soonabai Pirojsha Godrej Foundation
is founded. Today, approximately 23 per cent
of the promoter holding in the Group is
held in trusts that invest in the environment,
health and education.
Total Quality Management is formally
introduced at Godrej, grounding our
commitment to create amazing quality,
world-class products.
We acquire Translektra. With leading brands
such as Goodknight and HIT, we protect
against vector borne diseases and are
the number one player in household
insecticides in India and Indonesia.
We celebrate our 100th birthday
and remind ourselves that we are
only as good as what we do next.
Godrej Soaps is demerged into a
Chemicals business, Godrej Chemicals,
and a focused FMCG business,
Godrej Consumer Products -
which is how we are now known.
We start our global journey with our first
acquisition outside India - Keyline Brands,
a personal care player in the UK. In 2018, we
divested our stake in the business, sharpening our
strategic focus on emerging markets.
Godrej liquid and powder hair colours is
rebranded as Godrej Expert. We continue
to be the number one player in the hair
colour category in India, constantly
innovating and exploring new ways to
delight our consumers.
We make our first African acquisitions –
Rapidol and Kinky – opening up the
fascinating world of hair extensions and hair
care for women of African origin.
We merge with Godrej Sara Lee.
No longer just a leading soap and hair colour
company, we also add the leading player in
the growing household insecticides market
to our portfolio.
We enter the Indonesian market by
acquiring P.T. Megasari Makmur,
a leading home and personal care player.
We enter the Argentinian market by
acquiring the leading hair colour players,
Issue and Argencos.
Building on our legacy of sustainability
and making a commitment to build a
more employable and greener world.
We significantly ramp up our presence in
Africa and step into 14 new countries by
acquiring the Darling Group, a leader in
hair extensions.
The Godrej India Culture Lab ran as a successful
10 year experiment that, through events, fellowships,
and public resources such as white papers and
websites, created a new exploratory cultural space
located within the Godrej headquarters in Vikhroli,
Mumbai. It subsequently evolved into the Godrej
DEI Lab.
We introduce the Godrej Capability Factors
of ‘Leading Self’, ‘Leading Others’ and
‘Leading Business’, to define and measure
leadership capability at Godrej. All our
people processes are based on this.
Our next stop – Chile – where we acquire
Cosmetica Nacional, a leading hair colour
and colour cosmetics company, to grow
our presence in Latin America.
Democratising creme hair colouring in India
with a first-of-its-kind crème in a sachet –
Godrej Expert Rich Crème.
Passionate people make for passionate
Godrejites! Godrej LOUD (Live Out Ur
Dream), our radically different take on
recruitment, launches in India,
kickstarting the hunt for people with
powerful personal dreams. Now we host
it in Africa and Indonesia too.
A game changing paper-based mosquito
repellent for the Indonesian market
We foray into air care with Godrej aer,
a premium innovation for cars and homes.
aer is now a leading air care player in
India and together with our Stella brand
in Indonesia, has evolved into our fourth
global category.
So, we created a small solution to this big problem –
Goodknight Fast Card, a paper-based solution
available at just one rupee per card.
Adi Godrej, Chairman of the Godrej Group,
is awarded the Padma Bhushan,
the third-highest civilian award in India,
for "distinguished service of a high order".
Godrej Properties and Pelli Clarke Pelli
Architects create Godrej One, our new
global headquarters at Vikhroli in Mumbai.
Our employee value proposition and
efforts to build an inspiring place to work
are anchored in the 3 pillars of ‘Your
Canvas’, ‘Tough Love’ and ‘Whole Self’.
We acquire USA-based Strength of Nature,
with a significant presence in Africa and the
Caribbean. It catapults us to becoming the
largest player globally in hair care for
women of African descent.
We introduce The Godrej Way, our refreshed
purpose and values. It talks about why we
exist and how we add value together; how
we bring meaning to what we do, what will
guide our decisions.
We launch the first Indian professional
hair range developed in partnership
with the Indian hairdressing industry,
tested and certified by salonists and
scientists.
We partner with the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights and launch an unprecedented set
of global corporate standards to support
the business community in tackling
discrimination against lesbian, gay, bi,
trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, at our
headquarters in Vikhroli, Mumbai
The world's first power-to-liquid handwash;
making handwashing accessible to every
home in India.
We launch a ‘Manifesto for Trans Inclusion
in the Indian Workplace’ to highlight the
circumstances of trans people in India,
and how corporate India can take action
to improve them.
Refreshed, exciting range of trendy,
great quality and surprisingly affordable
hair for women of African origin
Leveraging technology and expertise to
build Goodknight Gold Flash, India's
most powerful liquid vaporizer with
visible flash vapours.
The Light Box, an in-house photographic,
audio and film production studio, is set up to
create quick, high quality content for digital
use.
Following COVID-19, we double down on
growing our hygiene portfolio by expanding
our existing strongholds in soaps in India,
and wet wipes and disinfectants in Indonesia.
In Africa, Latin America and the USA, we foray
into the category with plans to build full
portfolios with multiple product offerings.
We enter into an agreement to acquire the FMCG
business of Raymond Consumer Care Limited, a
leading player in the Deodorants and Sexual
Wellness categories in India. This acquisition
complements our existing categories and has
the potential to deliver double-digit, multi-decade growth.
We set up the Godrej Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lab to empower inclusion ecosystems through strategic guidance, building DEI ecosystems in corporate India, partnerships with universities, think tanks and industry bodies, and much more.
We initiated the Elimination of Mosquito Borne Endemic Diseases (EMBED) programme in 2015 in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. Since then, our programme has expanded to include the states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, positively impacting 20,48,857 households at high risk of vector-borne diseases.
We launch Godrej Fab. Available at a
competitive price point of INR 99 per litre,
it democratises liquid detergents and
transforms the laundry experience.
Our Malanpur manufacturing plant in Madhya Pradesh (India) has a growing cohort of women who are breaking stereotypes in India’s historic male-dominated manufacturing sector. It symbolises our evolving manufacturing ethos and commitment to community development.
We integrate a new molecule –
Renofluthrin (RNF) – in our Household
Insecticide products. Developed in India,
it is active-based and 2x more effective
than other molecules.
