Protect your brand or lose it: Anupam Mittal uses Maganlal Chikki as a Rs 450 crore example
The Shaadi.com founder highlights how Maganlal Chikki’s iconic brand lost control to copycats, stressing why brands must protect their intellectual property.
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Anupam Mittal, Founder & CEO of People Group and Shaadi.com, has drawn attention to a Rs 450-crore brand story that comes with a cautionary lesson for entrepreneurs and marketers.
After a weekend trip to Lonavala, Mittal described how nearly every stall in the hill town proudly sells "Maganlal Chikki," a jaggery-and-nuts sweet synonymous with the region. Yet, according to him, less than Rs 10 crore of the business actually belongs to original Maganlal family enterprise.
Tracing the history, Mittal noted that the story dates back to the 1880s, when Bhivrajji Agarwal served jaggery and nuts on teak leaves to railway workers in Khandala.
His son Maganlal packaged the snack for train travellers, giving it the crisp name "Chikki." But the Agarwal family never trademarked or legally protected the name, leaving the iconic brand vulnerable.
"Imagine building a fortress of goodwill for 120 years only to discover you've left the back gate wide open," Mittal wrote.
Today, while tourists spend generously on "Maganlal Chikki," most of that revenue flows to copycat sellers who capitalized on the brand's lack of intellectual property (IP) protection.
For Mittal, the story serves as a wake-up call to founders, brand custodians, and marketers.
"Marketers and founders, take note. Next time you're drafting that brand book or pitch deck, add a slide titled 'Lock It Down' - because defending isn't optional when the prize is half a thousand crores," he emphasized.
