Parle-G is a biscuit brand manufactured by Parle Products in India. According to a 2011 Nielsen survey, it is the best-selling biscuit brand globally.
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Since our childhood, we’ve been consuming Parle G biscuits, and even our parents have grown up with the same beloved snack. Despite the changing times, the taste of Parle-G biscuits has remained unchanged, making them the world’s most popular biscuit.
Although Parle has introduced several new products, they have not altered the original taste of Parle-G. Today, I would like to delve into the real identity of the iconic Parle-Girl, who has been featured on the biscuit packets for decades.
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Who is Parle G Girl?
According to Mayank Shah, the product manager of Parle, the rumors surrounding the identity of the Parle-G girl are false. He clarified that the image is not of any real person, but rather an illustration created by an artist named Maganlal Dahiya in the 1960s.
Therefore, all the speculations circulating on social media platforms are unfounded. With Mayank Shah’s confirmation, the rumors can be put to rest. Hopefully, this article has cleared up any confusion regarding the identity of the Parle-G girl.
Additionally, the claim made by the Facebook page The Pagla Engineer, stating that the Parle-G girl Neeru Deshpande is now 65 years old, has been fact-checked and found to be false by Trendook.
Parle G girl Story
The history of Parle-G biscuits is not complete without mentioning the controversy surrounding the little girl featured on the biscuit wrapper. Three women have been claimed to be the girl child in the photo, namely Neeru Deshpande, Sudha Murthy, and Gunjan Gandania. However, Neeru Deshpande is considered to be the most likely candidate by the media.
According to the story, Neeru’s father took the photo when she was just four and a half years old. Though he was not a professional photographer, everyone liked the photo. Later, someone with connections to Parle-G saw the photo and offered to feature her on the biscuit packet. Today, Neeru is a 62-year-old woman, and a Google search for “Parle-G girl” shows her name as the most likely candidate.
However, there is still confusion about the girl’s identity, and even Parle-G’s Wikipedia page has claimed that the girl is not real and that her name is Gunjan Gandania. It is important to note that we should not rely solely on search engines like Google for information and should always check our sources carefully.
Parle G Popularity
Parle-G, one of India’s oldest brand names, has gained immense popularity as a tea-time snack. For decades, the product’s yellow and white wax paper wrapper, featuring an illustration of a young girl by Everest creative Maganlal Daiya, made it easily recognizable.
In recent times, Parle-G has switched to plastic packaging while maintaining its traditional design. The company advertised the change by showing a Parle-G packet placed in a fish tank. According to a 2011 Nielsen report, Parle-G has become the world’s best-selling biscuit brand, surpassing other leading brands like Kraft Foods’ Oreo, Mexico’s Gamesa, and Walmart’s private labels. This success can be attributed to India’s status as the world’s largest market for biscuits, surpassing the US, Mexico, China, Italy, and Spain.
As of January 2013, Parle-G’s distribution network covered over 6 million retail stores in India. The Brand Trust Report of 2014 ranked Parle-G as the 42nd most trusted brand in India. Parle-G’s affordability has also contributed to its popularity. As of 2012, it was sold outside India for 99 cents for a 418-gram pack.
Indian grocers sold the more common 65-gram “snack pack” for as low as ₹5 (15 cents), while major retailers sold it for 40 cents. By 2016, smaller 56.4-gram packs were being sold in the United States for eight for one dollar at Indian grocers. The first TV commercial for Parle-G was released in 1982, and the brand was endorsed by the Indian superhero Shaktimaan in the 1990s.
Parle Products History
Parle Products, originally a confectionery manufacturer, was founded in Mumbai’s Vile Parle suburb in 1929. The company began producing biscuits in 1939. After India’s independence in 1947, Parle Products launched an advertising campaign promoting its Gluco brand of biscuits as a home-grown alternative to British-branded biscuits.
Until the 1980s, Parle-G biscuits were known as Parle Gluco Biscuits. The “G” in Parle-G initially stood for “Glucose,” although a later brand slogan expanded it to “G for Genius.”
In 2013, Parle-G became the first fast-moving consumer goods brand in India to surpass ₹5,000 crore in retail sales.
