The inception of Emami Group took place way back in mid seventies when two childhood friends, Mr. R. S. Agarwal and Mr. R. S. Goenka left their high profile jobs with the Birla Group to set up Kemco Chemicals, an Ayurvedic medicine and cosmetic manufacturing unit in Kolkata in 1974.
It was an extremely bold step in the early seventies when the Indian FMCG market was still dominated by multinationals. Several such companies headquartered in Kolkata were considering shifting out of West Bengal due to labor unrest and political problems.
But against all odds with a vision of combining the age old wisdom of Ayurveda with modern manufacturing techniques for creating winning brands the company was started with a meager amount of Rs. 20, 000.