About Us
The Company
It was 1978 when Mr P. Ponnudurai came up with the brilliant idea of sourcing and manufacturing the best natural dates in India. And so, the company began its journey under the name Lion Dates Impex Pvt. Ltd. Now, it’s one of the reliable names in the industry.
Four decades and a name change since Lion Dates Impex Pvt. Ltd. continues to be India’s largest Dates processing and trading Company. It’s considered the most popular amongst the quality conscious consumers all over India thanks to constant innovations like offering deseeded dates or being the first company in India to offer vacuum packaging to keep Dates fresh. With expansion into Nutri-based products and stringent quality measures, Lion Dates Impex Pvt. Ltd. has expanded its reach into more homes and hearts.
A pioneer of fine quality and modern packaging of dates, Lion Dates Impex Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:22000 certified company. The company has factories in Tiruchirappalli and nearby villages in India. Offering a wide array of health-related products, the brand has grown to become trusted across 28 states and 7 union territories.
Mission-“Add Vitality to Life” inspires rural women to work at Lion Dates Impex Private Ltd. It believes that everyone deserves a fair chance at life and is committed to providing practical support for sustainable development and employment opportunities.
The Story of a Lion
This is the story from about 50 years ago in a town called Tiruchirapalli. The story of an ordinary man with an ordinary job and ordinary man’s problems namely, feeding his family. After a string of jobs that included working in a provision store attendant, owning his own provision store, a run as Junior Assistant in the Collector’s office and selling vessel washing powder packets on his cycle to enhance his income, he finally had his date with destiny.
One day on one of his errands selling vessel washing powder packets, he saw a packet of dates at a shop which didn’t look too clean. On enquiring about the poor quality of dates, he was in turn asked to do it himself. That right there proved to be a business to get into for the locked entrepreneur in him. And, so began a journey for Mr. P. Ponnudurai – a man of very modest means – with a product no one really cared about. Today, that journey is a successful business making a yearly turnover of Rs. 500 crores.
You may wonder what that has got to do with the Lion. Everything!
In those days, dates were sold loose and were mostly used as a barter item with not much value. So, in order to add value to his product, he had to give it an identity. What better an identity than that of the King of the jungle for a brand that was a pioneer in the Dates market in the country? But, if you ask him, he still says he doesn’t really know why he went with that name. Maybe it was foresight or pure coincidence, but Lion Dates is the king of the market. And, that is because of the tireless mindset, relentless urge for innovation and a roaring passion towards work for Mr. P. Ponnudurai – the man with the heart of a lion; the man at the heart of Lion Dates Impex Pvt. Ltd.