What’s the first thing your mother packed for you before a school trip?
A warm sweater? A packet of Parle-G? Chances are, somewhere in the bag, there was a small green tube. Quiet. Unassuming. Trusted. The answer to chapped lips, scraped knees, and whatever ‘skin problem’ childhood could throw your way.
For many of us, that little tube wasn’t just a first-aid essential. It was a comfort in a corner. A quiet assurance from home that no matter where life took you, care was never out of reach.
But few know the story behind this tube—a story that doesn’t begin in a marketing boardroom, but in the cluttered bylanes of Calcutta, almost a century ago. A story not of business ambition, but of one man’s quiet rebellion.
Read on to discover how a freedom fighter’s dream turned into a legacy of care, packed inside a humble green tube.
in Noisy Times
It was 1929. While freedom fighters waved flags in the streets, a man named Gourmohan Dutta chose a different weapon: a cream.
Living in Calcutta under British rule, Dutta saw imported brands like Ponds dominating shelves. But what about something homegrown? Something Indian?
His answer lay in a simple idea—a healing cream, packed with purpose.
The name? Boroline.
A blend of boric acid (for antiseptic healing) and lanolin (for moisturising care).
Wrapped in a foil tube. Stamped with an elephant—steady, calm, reliable.
Did he know then that he wasn’t just launching a product, but planting the seed for a cultural icon? Probably not.
He just wanted India to heal itself, literally.
Not Cream
Back in the 1930s, Boroline’s biggest challenge wasn’t foreign competition. It was trust.
Indians were used to imported goods, believing “foreign” meant “better.” Convincing households to replace their trusted jars with a foil tube from a local brand was no easy feat.
Dutta’s strategy? He let the cream speak.
No celebrity endorsements, no loud advertisements. Just quiet word-of-mouth and a promise that Boroline worked—every time.
By 1947, as India woke up to freedom, Boroline celebrated too. Over 1 lakh free tubes were distributed in newspapers—a humble yet powerful celebration of self-reliance.
Boroline Stayed Home
By the 1980s, competition had arrived. Loud, glamorous, and endorsed by none other than Bollywood royalty. BoroPlus flooded the market, backed by Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.
Boroline?
It refused to follow.Instead of celebrities, it chose culture.
A Bengali jingle by the legendary Rituparno Ghosh anchored Boroline in the hearts of Bengal — “Bongo Jiboner Ongo” (A part of Bengali life). Elsewhere in India, it became the “haathiwala cream”, the elephant brand that quietly cared for everyone.
What’s That?
The 1990s ushered in liberalisation. Glossy brands like Nivea, L’Oréal, and Johnson & Johnson stormed Indian shelves.
Most local brands panicked, rebranded, repackaged, re-priced. Boroline? It stood firm.
Same formula. Same tube. Same price point.
Why fix what generations already trusted?
Even today, in the age of serums and sheet masks, Boroline sells over a million tubes every month, its stronghold in rural and middle India remaining unshaken.
to Instagram Reels
You’d think a 96-year-old brand would fade away in the digital era. Instead, Boroline found unlikely fans—Gen Z.
As skincare trends shifted to minimalism and natural healing, Boroline’s no-nonsense formula found a new audience. Influencers began calling it a “budget dupe” for high-end moisturizers.
Hashtags like #BorolineHacks trended.
In a world craving authenticity, the green tube felt refreshing.
Affair
While rivals became multinational giants, Boroline stayed grounded.
GD Pharmaceuticals, the company behind the brand, remains a family-run business. Descendants of Gourmohan Dutta still steer the ship from Kolkata, rarely courting media attention.
Their strategy? Keep it simple. Keep it authentic.
Because when a product is part of your childhood, it doesn’t need advertising. It needs preservation.
Endures
Through a legacy built quietly over a century, Boroline proves a point few marketers understand today:
- Consistency beats novelty.
- Care builds loyalty.
- Heritage matters.
It doesn’t sell luxury or glam. It sells healing.
It doesn’t promise miracles. It delivers comfort.
From train journeys to hospital recovery rooms, from cracked lips to baby noses, Boroline is less a product and more a ritual. A tube of trust, handed down like a family heirloom.
Sealed in Green
So, next time you spot that green tube with the elephant on your mother’s shelf, remember — it’s not just cream inside.
It’s history. It’s healing.
It’s a freedom fighter’s quiet dream that outlived generations.
Because some brands chase trends.
Boroline? It simply cared. And sometimes, that’s enough to build a trustworthy empire.
Yash Vora is a financial writer with the Informed InvestoRR team at Equentis. He has followed the stock markets right from his early college days. So, Yash has a keen eye for the big market movers. His clear and crisp writeups offer sharp insights on market moving stocks, fund flows, economic data and IPOs. When not looking at stocks, Yash loves a game of table tennis or chess.
