The Detergent on a Bicycle

Early in the morning, before his office opened, a man in his twenties would wheel his bicycle out into the lanes of Ahmedabad. Tied to the back were small packets of yellow washing powder.

He stopped at house after house, knocking on doors. He explained to the women who answered that this powder would wash their clothes clean, and that it cost far less than the famous brands in the shops.

Then he cycled to work. In the evening, he did it all again.

A farmer's son who studied chemistry

Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel was born in the mid-1940s into a farming family in a village in the Mehsana district of north Gujarat. His family was not wealthy, but they wanted their son to study.

He studied chemistry and earned a science degree. Then he found work as a laboratory assistant, first at a textile mill in Ahmedabad and later in the Gujarat government's Department of Geology and Mining. It was a steady government job, the kind that families in his village hoped their sons would get.

He married, and he and his wife had children. Life was ordinary and secure.

A powder in the backyard

In the late 1960s, washing powder was a luxury in India. The big brands were made by large companies and sold at prices that most families could not afford. Most people washed their clothes with bars of soap, or with soap and a lot of scrubbing.

Karsanbhai was a chemist. He knew what a detergent was made of, and he believed he could make a good one far more cheaply. Around 1969, he began experimenting in the backyard of his home, mixing the powder by hand.

He kept his government job. In the hours before and after work, he packed the powder himself and rode around on his bicycle, selling it door to door. Over the years, the story of the chemist on the bicycle became part of Indian business history.

Nirma

He named the powder Nirma, after his daughter, Nirupama.

Nirupama had died in an accident when she was still a child. It was the deepest grief of her parents' lives. By giving the powder her name, Karsanbhai found a way to keep her with him in his daily work. The cheerful little girl in a white frock, twirling on the packet and in the advertisements, is said to stand for her memory.

At first sales were small, but the women who bought it told their neighbours. The powder worked, and it cost much less than the brands on the shop shelves. It was a product made for families who counted every rupee.

From one bicycle to every village

After a few years, Karsanbhai took the risk of leaving his government job to give all his time to Nirma. He set up a small workshop, then a factory.

He kept costs as low as possible. He made the product simply, packaged it simply, and kept a tight hold on every expense, so that he could keep the price low. He relied on small shopkeepers in towns and villages, many of which the big companies had never bothered to reach.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Nirma spread across India. Its catchy radio and television jingle became one of the best known in the country. It grew into one of the best-selling detergents in India, and it changed the market so much that the biggest companies had to bring out cheaper brands of their own to compete.

For millions of families, a packet of washing powder had become something they could afford.

What he gave back

Karsanbhai Patel's company went on to make soap, salt and industrial chemicals. He also turned to something he cared about deeply: education.

In the 1990s he founded the Nirma Education and Research Foundation in Ahmedabad, which grew into Nirma University, with colleges of engineering, management, law and pharmacy. Thousands of students now study there every year.

In 2010 the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, one of the country's highest civilian honours, for his work in trade and industry.

When people tell his story, they often begin with the bicycle. It is worth remembering the name on the packet, too, and the father who carried it.

Want to read more?

C. K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid explains how Nirma showed that good products could be made affordable for India's poorest families. The Padma Awards records of the Government of India list Karsanbhai Patel's honour.