Manufacturing products and selling it to the people who are in need is as old as first few civilizations of the world. No, I am not listing such old products but some 200 years old brands and companies which have affected almost everyone in some or the other way.

Talking about India which is world’s one of the biggest consumer market, I tried listing top 100 all time favorite brands and products with some very little details. The rating from 1-100 is completely my own opinion.

Among all 100 top some brands became so popular that they used the generic name for the other same products but from different companies.

1. Colgate(Toothpaste) :- Founder: William Colgate; Company: Colgate-Palmolive; First Toothpaste in the year 1873

2. Surf (Detergents) :- Product of Unilever, Surf Detergent first introduced in the year 1950.

3. Dalda (Vanaspati Oil) :- Founder: Dada& Co.; Presently owned by Bunge Limited.

4. Tata (Tata Group) :- Founder: Jamshedji Tata; Joined his father’s firm in the year 1858

5. Nirma (Detergent) :- Founder:- Karsanbhai Patel; Started selling In 1969.

6. Lifebuoy (Toilet Soap) :- Originally marketed by Lever Brothers in 1895. produced by Unilever

7. Bata Shoes: - Founder: Tomas Bata in 1894.

8. Bajaj Motors :- Founder: M/s Bachraj Trading Corporation Private Limited, in the year 1945.

9. Maggi (food products):- Founder: Julius Maggi; in 1872. Currently a brand of Nestlé

10. Dabur (Ayurvedic, cosmetics) :- Founder: Dr. S.K Burman in 1884.

11. Xerox :- Founded in 1906 as Haloid Company and Xerox in 1961.

12. Amul- Milk products :- AMUL stands for Anand Milk Production Limited. Formed in 1946.

13. Reliance:- Founder: Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966.

14. LIC:- Owned by Government of India Founded in 1956.

15. Maruti (Maruti Suzuki) :- Maruti Udyog Limited was established in 1981 renamed to Maruti Suzuki India Limited and owned by Indian Govt, 54.2% by Suzuki Japan.

16. Iodex (pain relief) :- Product of :- SmithKline Beecham Plc. Glaxo SmithKline India owns Iodex at present.

17. Parle-G (biscuits) :- Owned by a company Parle Products since 1929. Name Parle is originated from a Mumbai suburb Vile Parle.

18. Vicks (cough relief) :- VapoRub was created in the 1880s by Lunsford Richardson. In 1985, then known as the Vicks Chemical Company.was sold to Procter & Gamble.

19. Nokia (mobile phones):- Established in 1865, by Fredrik Idestam. The name Nokia originated from the river which flowed through the town.

20. Rasna (drinks):- Owned by Rasna Ltd. Since 1980 , Rasna Chairman and Managing Director Piruz Khambatta.

21. Rin ( soap):-Product of Levers,introduced in April 1984.

22. Videocon (electronics) :-Founded in 1987.Founder- Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoo.

23. Godrej (godrej group):- Founded by Ardeshir Godrej and Pirojsha Godrej in 1897.

24. Four Square (tobacco) :- Owned by Godfrey Philips India. Godfrey Phillips India has two major stakeholders, one of India’s leading industrial houses - the K. K. Modi Group and one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, Philip Morris.

25. ICICI Bank :-Founded in 1955 as Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India).

26. Emami (cosmetics) :- Owned by Emami Group of Companies. Founders:- R.S. Agarwal and Mr. R.S. Goenka in 1974.

27. NIIT:- Founded by Rajendra S. Pawar & Vijay Thadani in 1981.

28. Fair-n-lovely (cosmetics) :- Product Since 1993 ; Owned by Unilever.

29. Bisleri :- Originally created by an Italian Signor Felice Bisleri. Currently owned by Parle since 1969.

30. Dettol :- Founded by Reckitt Benckiser plc a British based manufacturer.

31. Fevicol :- Owned by Pidilite Industries Limited since 1959.

32. Rooh Afza (beverage) :- Founder and Inventor Hakeem Abdul Majeed. Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories since 1907.

33. Dhara (edible oil):- It’s a Product of Amul.

34. Airtel :- Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited founded by Sunil Mittal in 1985.

35. Onida (electronics) :- started by G.L.Mirchandani and Vijay Mansukhani in 1981.

36. Lijjat (food products) :- Formerly known as Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad. Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat, Parvatiben Ramdas Thodani, Ujamben Narandas Kundalia, Banuben. N. Tanna, Laguben Amritlar Gokani, Jayaben V. Vithalani and one unknown are the founders. Since 1959.

37. - SBI :- State Bank of India Founded in 1806 as bank of Calcutta.

38. Cadbury Dairy Milk :- First launched in 1905 in U.K. In India since 1948 by importing and re-packing.

39. Thums up (flavored soda) :- Introduced by Parle brothers Prakash and Ramesh Chauhan. Presently owned by Coca-Cola Company.

40. Ponds (cosmetics) :- Invented by an American scientist Theron T. Pond in 1846. Later owned by Unilever.

41. Raymond (clothing) :- Earlier known as The Raymond Woollen Mills by Mr Wadia was later acquired by Lala Juggilal, Lala Kailashpat Singhania in 1944 at present known as brand of JK Group.

42. Parachute (hair oil) :- Product brand of Marico Industries. LTD. Harsh C. Mariwala is chairman and managing director.

43. Air-India :- Founded By J.R.D Tata in 1932 as Tata Airline.

44. Action Shoes :- Owned by Action Group, chairman Mange ram agarwal.

45. Kingfisher (beverage):- It’s a flagship brand of brand of United Breweries. Kingfisher’s heritage started from 1857.

46. Samsung:- A South Korean company founded by 1938: Lee Byung-Chul.

47. Hero Cycles :- Founded by Munjal Brother in 1944 from Kamalia Town, presently in Pakistan. Later shifted to Amritsar(Punjab).

48. Paan Parag (tobacco related) :- Kothari Group. M.M. Kothari-Founder. Introduced Paan Parag in 1973.

49. Master Card:- Formerly known as Mater Card World Wide. Richard N. Haythornthwaite Chairman.

50. Good Knight :- Owned by Godrej Sara Lee is a joint venture company between the Godrej Group, India and Sara Lee Corporation, USA.

51. Hero Honda:- A joint venture between hero group of India and Honda of Japan in 1984.

52. Moods condom :- A product of Hindustan Latex Ltd. Founded in 1966. m Ayappan is managing Director and Founder.

53. Jet Airways :- Founded in 1993 by Naresh Goyal.

54. Limca :- Limca is the product of Coca-Cola India. Introduced in 1977.

55. JK Tires :- JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. is the flagship company under the umbrella of JK Organization

56. Cinthol (toilette) :- Is product brand of Godrej. The company was formed in 1897 by Ardeshir Godrej.

57. Vimal (suitings) :- Popularly known as “Only Vimal” is a brand of Reliance Industries LTD.

58. Sony :- A Japanese company Founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita.

59. Usha Fans:- Usha International Ltd. Formerly known as Jay Engineering Works. Founded in 1934, fans are added in 1948.

60. Ambuja Cement:- formerly known as Gujrat Ambuja Limited.

61. BSNL :- Owned by Govt. of India, founded in the late 90’s.

62. Vaseline :- Brand of Unilver. The inventor of Vaseline petroleum jelly was Robert Chesebrough who patented it in 1872.

63. Titan (watches) :- Started in 1987 by Tata group Xerxes Desai, a Tata veteran was the first to lead this brand. Joint venture of Tata Group and Tamil Nadu Gvt.

64. HP :- Stands for Hewlett- Packard was founded by William (Bill) Hewlett and David (Dave) Packard in 1939.

65. Reynolds :- G.M.Pens International Pvt. Ltd. is the exclusive licensee of Reynolds, France, in India and the SAARC countries. Headquartered in Chennai. First introduced in 1986.

66. Frooti (beverage) :- Manufactured by Parle Agro India Pvt.Ltd. First introduced in the year 1985.

67. Bagpiper (Whisky) :- Brand owned by UB Group. Present chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya. UB Group was founded by Thomas Leishman in 1857.

68. Britannia:- Founded in the year 1892. Present chairman is Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dying.

69. Anchor electrical appliance :- Founded somewhere in mid 60’s by Shah Lalji Velji Anchorwala. Present Chairman Mr. D L Shah.

70. Navbharat Times ( Hindi Newspaper) :- Founded by Times Group or formerly known as Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd.

71. Taj group of hotels: Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces owned by Tata Group. Company founded in 1903 as Taj Mahal Palace & Towers as first property. Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata was inspired by an incident involving racial discrimination at Watson’s Hotel Mumbai where he was refused to enter in the Hotel. As the hotel did not permit Indians.

72. Ambassador(automobile)- Hindustan Motors :- Manufactured by Hindustan Motors which is owned by R K Birla. The production started since 1957, origin from Morris Oxford Series III.

73. Bharat Petroleum :- Founded in 1976 (After nationalization of Burmah Shell Company) now owned by Govt of India.

74. Everest Masala :- Launched in 1968 by Vadilal Shah with the name Everest Garam Masala.

75. Milk Food (edible oil) :- Owned by MilkFood Ltd. Company based in Punjab.

76. Keo-Karpin (hair oil) :- Owned by Dey’s Medical Stores (Manufacturing) Limited in 1941 by Mr. B.N. Dey.

77. -LML Vespa (scooters) :- Made by an Italian company Piaggio. Lohia Machines Ltd or LML motors was vespa clone producers of Vespa in India Production since 1960.

78. Sintex(water tank):- Sintex Industries limited later known as The Bharat Vijay Mills Ltd. Started plastic division in 1965.

79. Levis :- Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO) founded in 1853 by Levi Strauss.

80. The Times of India : - English Newspaper published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Founded in 1838.

81. Aviva Life insurance :- UK’s largest insurance group has history since 1696 and in India it is active since 1834.

82. Park Avenue clothes :- Brand product of Raymond India. Owned by J.K group’s Gutam Singhania.

83. Haldiram (spices, food products) :- Its started by Gangabisanji Agarwal alias Haldiram Agrawal in 1937 in Bikaner, now shifted its headquarters to Nagpur.

84. Johnnie-Walker :- Originally Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky. Named after a Scottish grocer John Johnnie walker .

85. Lipton (tea):- Brand of Unilever Group.

86. Haywards (beer, alcoholic and non alcoholic beverage) :- Launched in 1983 and owned by SabMiller India. Wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller plc.

87. Indian Oil :- Indian Oil Corporation founded in 1964.

88. Philips :- Founded and headquartered in the Netherlands in 1891. Philips started operations in India at Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1930 under the name Philips Electrical Co. (India) Pvt Ltd, comprising a staff of 75. It was a sales outlet for Philips lamps imported from overseas.

89. Café Coffee Day ( coffee parlour):- Founded in 1996. Headquarters Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka.


90. Tide ( washing powder):- Owned by Procter & Gamble. Created in 1943.


91. Cherry Shoe Polish:- Cherry Blossom Boot Polish was launched in 1906, and in 1913 the Chiswick Polish Co Ltd was formed with its factory in Burlington lane.

92. Voltas:- Voltas Limited is a part of Tata Group. Ishaat Hussain is Voltas chairman.

93. Sansui:- Founded Tokyo, Japan, June 3rd 1947.

94. Kwality Walls:- Kwality, the original Indian company, was founded in 1956. it is owned by Hindustan Lever Limited a branch of Unilever.

95. Kohinoor Rice :- Owned by Kohinoor Foods (SATNAM), previously known as Satnam Overseas, is a global food company. It was incorporated in 1989.

96. Zandu :- Product of Zandu Ayurveda. Named after a nickname of a philanthropist and famous ayurvedic physician from Jamnagar, a district in Gujarat.

97. Atlas :- Atlas Cycles Haryana producing cycles since 1951.The company named Atlas Cycles Haryana Ltd.

98. TVS Motors :- TV Sundram Iyengar and Sons Limited. Founded in 1911 by Shri.T V Sundaram Iyengar.

99. Reebok :- British shoes manufacturer founded in 1895 currently a subsidiary of Adidas.

100.  BIG BAZAAR (shopping malls) :- Owned by Future Group. Kishore Biyani was founder.

Author’s note: All images/logos/banners used in the post is copyrighted and owned by the respected companies, brands owners.