10 Unknown Facts About Parle-G, The Largest Selling Biscuit Brand In The World

In India, just as ‘Xerox’ is to photocopy, ‘Parle-G’ is to biscuits. A brand name that comes instantly to our minds whenever we think of biscuits, Parle-G has been the quintessential tea time chow for us all, for many decades now. Some love to take a crunchy bite with a sip of tea, while others prefer to dip it first and then relish it. Whatever be the modus operandi, everyone would agree that Parle-G is “Tea’s best friend”!

We all grew up eating India’s favorite biscuit, but I bet that many of us would be shockingly surprised to learn about these stupefying facts about them.

1. House of Parle – The Arising

Mohanlal Dayal, who once was a dusting boy, founded the House of Parle in 1928 and the first Parle factory came up in 1929, with only 12 people making confectionery. Parle aimed to cater to common Indians as against the only other domestic confectionary company, Britannia, which provided to the Britons.

2. Parle-Gluco is born!

Expanding their product range from Orange candies and like confectioneries, the first Parle Gluco (as it was known then) was baked in 1938. Since then it’s been a long journey of supremacy in the dominion of biscuits.

3. Rechristened to Parle-G in 1985

With the advent of many biscuits brands launching Glucose biscuits, it was time to distinguish the King from the crowd. Parle Gluco became Parle-G.

4. Who’s that little girl on the wrapper?

Grapevine has it that her name is Neeru Deshpandey and that she was about 4 years old when the picture was clicked. Well, that’s just a rumor. The little girl is actually an illustration done by Everest Creative’s artist Maganlal Daiya, way back in the 1960’s. Another case of internet gossip!

5. Largest selling biscuit brand – Globally

In 2011, a survey conducted by Nielsen declared Parle-G as the largest selling biscuit brand in the world. With over 6 million retail stores in India acting as strong distribution points for Parle-G, its number one position worldwide should not be startling.

6. Savor these stats over a cup of tea

• Around 1 billion Parle-G packets are produced every month.
• If stacked side by side, it would be enough to cover the 7.25 Lakh km distance between Earth and Moon!
• Place all the Parle-G packets produced in a year, around the Earth’s circumference, and you would circle the earth 192 times.
• 4551 people in some part of the world, enjoy a Parle-G every second.
• Parle-G sells more than all the biscuit brands sold in China.
• In 2013, Parle-G became India’s first FMCG brand to cross the ₹ 5000 crore mark in retail sales.

 

7. Biscuit for the Masses

Despite the price of the raw materials including milk, wheat and sugar going up, the price of Parle-G did not change for over a decade between 1996 and 2006.

8. “Swad Bhare, Shakti Bhare Parle-G”

The first TV commercial for Parle-G was made in 1982. Kids favorite Indian superhero Shaktiman also endorsed the brand in the 1990s.

9. Look and Taste – just the same

Seventy-nine years in existence and there is hardly any change in its taste. The iconic white and yellow color wrapper design too has remained untouched, though the wrapper is now made of plastic paper rather than a Wax paper.

10. The oldest Parle factory in Mumbai shuts down

The first and oldest factory of Parle ceased production in 2016, after 87 years of operations. Considered a landmark at Vile Parle, the company in fact borrowed its name from the area. Parle now has factories in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Dozens of new biscuit brands are launched every year, but Parle G continues to rule the roost. The King of biscuits still remains popular amongst kids, youth and the old!