Supreet Kaur
10-Jul-2026
Decoding the legacy behind the century mark!
Starting a business in the early years of independence was quite a challenge, but there are a few enterprises that faced these challenges and stood strong despite being exposed to difficult times, evolving technology, industrialisation, and a changing market scenario. Here are the top 10 companies that built India’s market in retail, hospitality, brewery, fashion, and housing and are still carrying their rich heritage and legacy by providing you with exceptional experiences.
Below, we have listed Indian companies that’ve hit the century mark and are still dominating the market!
1. Aditya Birla Group
(Image Credits: Aditya Birla Group)
Tracing its origins to 1857, during India's pre-independence era, the Aditya Birla Group represented India at the First and Second Round Table Conferences in London alongside Gandhiji and is now one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. Today, the group has its hands in more than 80+ brands across 21 business sectors. The legacy started by Ghanshyam Das Birla has made India's journey from a colonial past to a global economic powerhouse. Today, a century later, the conglomerate has expanded its footprint in hospitality, fashion and lifestyle. Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality (ABNAH), founded by Aryaman Vikram Birla, is shaping premium hospitality in India, while Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) is emerging as India's leading fashion powerhouse. The company is also a leading example in educating the youth through various programmes in leadership and manufacturing. They are also building a force for good by working across villages, immunising children, empowering women, organising medical camps, and more.
2. Tata Group
(Image Credits: Tata Group)
Everyone fancies a stay at the iconic Taj Hotel, but very few wonder about the legacy behind it. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, with INR 21,000 capital, founded the Tata Group in 1868 with the objective of building one of India’s oldest conglomerates, working across aviation, automobiles, hospitality, retail, steel, and consumer products. With core values of integrity, responsibility, excellence, pioneering, and unity, Tata has built a group that works towards health, education, empowerment, and environmental welfare in society.
3. Raymond Group
(Image Credits: Raymond)
The largest integrated textile company in the world, with 1,500 outlets spread across 600 towns and 20,000 points of sale in India, Raymond Limited, which started off as Raymond Woollen Mill, began its journey in 1925 in Mumbai and was later taken over by Lala Kailashpat Singhania in 1944. With a central theme of "Go Beyond", Raymond Group has a significant hold over the B2B space through its garments business, along with its consumer brands like Park Avenue and Kama Sutra, proving to have a prominent presence in the FMCG market.
And not just limited to fashion, Raymond introduced a new transformative strategy in 2017, known as "Raymond Re-imagined", where they not only showcased Raymond as a fashion brand but also transformed it into a lifestyle to be lived by everyone by positioning Raymond as a fashion, apparel, real estate, engineering, and digital experience brand. Along with this, they made an influential impact on society by engaging in various welfare activities.
4. Britannia
(Image Credits: Britannia)
In 1892, when a group of businessmen met in Kolkata, they decided to invest Rs. 295 in their new idea of manufacturing biscuits, and that is when Britannia Industries was born. With a legacy of 130 years of creating snacks, Britannia has expanded to over 80 countries across the world. On 21st March, 1918, it was incorporated as a public limited company. The year 1954 marked a very important milestone for Britannia as they introduced the concept of sliced and wrapped bread in India, followed by the launch of Bourbon biscuits and cakes, with sales crossing Rs 100 crore in the following years. They do not just go by the identity of "Eat Healthy, Think Better", but they also believe in it through their snacks and responsible initiatives towards society during COVID across 19 states and 110 cities. One of the most noticeable shifts for the brand was changing its name from Britannia Biscuit Co. Ltd. to Britannia Industries Ltd. in 1979.
5. Bombay Dyeing
(Image credits: Bombay Dyeing)
A legacy of comfort carried over for 145 years by Bombay Dyeing, started in 1879 by Nowrosjee Wadia as a hand-dyed cotton yarn business, later came off as one of the oldest textile companies with their heritage-rich bed and bath products around the globe, combined with their bed, bath, home, and furnishing products in the Indian domestic market. Being a part of the Wadia Group, India's oldest conglomerate, Bombay Dyeing expanded to Bombay Realty, which has been trying to transform and reform Mumbai's skyline with mixed-use developments, in addition to their polyester manufacturing, which started in 2007.
6. Dabur India
(Image Credits: Dabur India)
The 138-year-old brand trusted by every Indian parent when it comes to their dental health, being famously known for Red Paste and Chyawanprash, Dabur sits in the heart of every Indian. Dabur was born in 1884 to Dr S. K. Burman in Calcutta and expanded to Ayurvedic medicines in the early 1900s, followed by the establishment of their research laboratories and further expansion. The year 1993 marks a crucial year for Dabur as they entered the specialised healthcare area of cancer treatment with their oncology formulation plant at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, in succession to Project STARS in their food division market. Finally, it crossed the $2 billion mark in market capitalisation in 2006. Just before Mohit Malhotra takes charge as their new global CEO, Dabur India acquires a company in South Africa. Dabur India builds a brand that contemporises Ayurveda and makes it relevant for the new generation.
7. P. N. Gadgil & Sons
(Image Credits: P. N. Gadgil & Sons)
This story starts on 29th November, when a 17-year-old young boy, Ganesh Gadgil, laid the foundation of a jewellery business in the small town of Sangli, Maharashtra, which later became P. N. Gadgil Jewellers, one of India's most well-known jewellery retail brands. Being one of the oldest and most reputed jewellery brands in Maharashtra, P. N. Gadgil & Sons deals in gold, silver, diamond, and gemstone jewellery. Apart from business, the love of Ajit Gadgil for art and heritage inspired the company to run various revival projects. One of the most famous among them is the Kinnal Art Revival Project, where they train six local Kinnal artists to preserve and practise this endangered art form, along with their other initiatives, including blood drives, education, medical check-ups, and more.
8. Old Monk - Mohan Meakin Limited
(Image credits: Mohan Meakin Group)
Mohan Meakin’s history traces back to the year 1855 when Edward Dyer established a brewery at Kasauli, which became a real thirst quencher at that time. With his enduring passion for brewing, Edward expanded to Lucknow, Solan, Shimla, and Burma. Within the same century, another man named H. G. Meakin, with his dedication to the brewery business, founded Meakin & Co. Cut to 1937; both companies formally merged as Dyer Meakin Breweries, and in 1966 it was renamed Mohan Meakin Breweries, today known as Mohan Meakin Limited. That is how this brand was reborn. Being India’s oldest brewing company, they are engaged in the production of various beers, whisky, vodkas, juices, rums, gins, brandy, and more. Old Monk rum and Golden Oak whisky being their highest-selling products, the company’s turnover exceeds INR 400 crores, along with the diversification of three distilleries and two breweries in India.
9. Keventer's Group
(Image Credits: Keventers)
Edward Keventer, known as the pioneer of India’s modern dairy industry, established Keventers in 1889 in Kolkata, India. Later on, it expanded to Nepal, Kenya, the UAE, and Dubai. By the 2000s–2014, the brand was losing its popularity, and that’s when Sohrab Sitaram came into the picture. A prominent name in the hospitality industry, he steered Keventers to a remarkable milestone of 200+ outlets in just 3 years. With stores in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and many more states, today they are known for their delicious milkshakes, flavourful ice creams, and scrumptious waffles.
Cover Credits: pexels
