The Soil of Saurashtra (1966)
The Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat is globally renowned for producing some of the richest, high-oil-content groundnuts on earth. In 1966, in the agricultural heartland of Rajkot, the Bhagat family set up a small expeller unit under the name Gulab.Their business premise was uncomplicated: buy fresh, locally harvested groundnuts, mechanically press them in mechanical expellers, filter the liquid through cloth filters to remove particulates, and sell the golden, highly aromatic oil directly to local families.
No chemical solvents. No caustic soda neutralization. No deodorization. No chemical bleaching.
For decades, Gulab Groundnut Oil was a culinary staple in Gujarati households, celebrated for its authentic nutty aroma, high smoke point, and natural nutritional integrity.
The Great Adulteration Wave: Resisting the Mass Market
During the 1990s and 2000s, India's cooking oil market underwent a radical—and deeply controversial—industrial transformation.Large corporate conglomerates realized that cold physical pressing left 6% to 8% of oil trapped inside the seed cake. To maximize extraction yields, they transitioned to hexane solvent extraction—a chemical process that uses petroleum derivatives to strip every drop of oil, followed by high-heat chemical refining, bleaching with bentonite earth, and synthetic deodorizing.
Worse, to lower retail price points, mass-market brands began blending cheap, imported palm oil into traditional oils, masking the adulteration with artificial flavor essences.
Gulab faced a critical existential fork in the road:
- Either follow the herd into cheap, solvent-refined, blended oils to compete on price,
- Or stay true to unadulterated cold filtration and accept that their production costs would remain higher.
The Bhagat family chose the harder path: they refused to compromise on pure cold filtration.
While short-term market share was challenged by heavily advertised refined oil brands, Gulab earned something far more precious: multi-generational trust across Saurashtra and Gujarat. Mothers and grandmothers insisted that festival delicacies and daily dal could only be cooked in Gulab.
The Generational Rebirth: Enter Dishank Bhagat and 'Gulab Goodness'
By the late 2010s, a profound health awakening began sweeping Indian urban centers. Medical research, holistic wellness practitioners, and cardiovascular specialists were sounding the alarm on the health hazards of chemically refined, solvent-treated vegetable oils and trans fats.Educated consumers were actively hunting for what their grandparents took for granted: cold-pressed, unrefined, single-origin traditional oils.
Dishank Bhagat, representing the dynamic new generation of the Bhagat lineage, recognized this macro-shift early.
He understood that while the older generation in Gujarat already trusted Gulab, the modern millennial parent in Mumbai, Bangalore, or Delhi had no relationship with regional tin-can oil brands. The brand needed an evolutionary leap.
Dishank launched Gulab Goodness:
- Modern Clean-Label Aesthetic: Transitioning from bulky tin cans to UV-blocking glass and premium recyclable packaging with clear nutritional storytelling.
- Reviving Wood-Pressed (Kachi Ghani) Oils: Setting up authentic wooden churner (Kolhu/Ghani) units where seeds are crushed slowly at room temperatures below 40°C, preserving 100% of natural Vitamin E, polyphenols, and essential fatty acids.
- Expanding the Clean Pantry: Beyond groundnut oil, Dishank expanded the catalog into wood-pressed sesame, yellow mustard, coconut, and extra-virgin olive oils, alongside natural preservative-free snacks, seeds, and roasted dry fruits.
The Omnichannel & Export Flywheel
Dishank recognized that the new-age FMCG battle would not be fought solely in traditional kirana stores.He built a high-growth Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) online platform ([gulaboils.com](https://gulaboils.com)) that shipped fresh cold-pressed oils directly from Saurashtra processing facilities to consumers across India. Simultaneously, Gulab Goodness forged relationships with premium modern trade supermarkets—Nature's Basket, Foodhall, and upscale retail chains—and expanded into quick-commerce platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart.
Recognizing the immense Indian diaspora longing for traditional cooking oils, Dishank established export distribution channels across 15+ countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Gulf.
Today, the Gulab ecosystem operates at an enterprise scale exceeding ₹1,000 Crore, standing as a beacon of traditional Indian culinary wisdom scaled into modern FMCG.