Dabur was a doctor's bicycle medicine business — it became a billion-dollar brand

In 1884, Dr. S. K. Burman, an Ayurvedic practitioner and qualified physician, began formulating medicines for diseases like cholera, constipation, and malaria. He was a doctor treating patients, not a businessman. He personally sold his medicines on a bicycle in Bengal, visiting villages and towns across the region.

Patients referred to him and his medicines as 'Dabur' — a portmanteau of 'daktar' (doctor in Bengali) and Burman. The name stuck. Dr. Burman was not running a company; he was a physician who made his own medicines because the pharmacy system did not serve rural Bengal.

The business grew organically. Dr. Burman began mass-producing his formulations. His son C.L. Burman set up the first research and development unit. After a labour unrest in Kolkata, another son, G.C. Burman, moved the factory to Delhi, where the business thrived. By the 1950s, Dabur was India's leading Ayurvedic medicine company.

Dabur expanded into consumer goods, launching products like Dabur Chyawanprash, Dabur Amla hair oil, and Dabur Red toothpaste. In 1998, the family separated ownership from management. By 2026, Dabur was a $5 billion market cap company with products sold in over 100 countries. A doctor's bicycle medicine business had become a global consumer goods giant.