Independence Day 2026: The Kolkata chemist who sold foreign medicines, backed Swadeshi and built a pharma empire

On a narrow stretch of Sovabazar Street in north Kolkata, an old chemist shop still operates from a building that has stood through some 150 years of the city's history.

To a customer walking in today, there may be little to suggest the scale of the business that once operated from here. The shop was once at the heart of one of eastern India’s largest Indian-owned pharmaceutical businesses. What began in a small room eventually grew into outlets across Kolkata, a factory in Dum Dum and, later, an office in London.

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The story of Butto Kristo Paul & Co. has been documented in a 2018 study by historian Malika Basu, published in the Indian Journal of History of Science under the title “Butto Kristo Paul & Co – An Enterprise for Localization of Foreign Medicines in Colonial Calcutta”. The study traces how Butto Kristo Paul, a grocer's son from Shibpur, built an Indian-owned medicine business in colonial Calcutta, first by importing foreign medicines and later moving into manufacturing. Family accounts provide another layer to that history, including Paul's supposedrole in supporting the Swadeshi movement and the eventual connection between his business and Bengal Chemical.

Paul began by importing foreign medicines into colonial Calcutta, at a time when such drugs were not readily available. Over time, the business expanded well beyond medicine trading, becoming part of the growth of Western medicine in the city, the emergence of Indian scientific enterprise and, later, the economic nationalism of the Swadeshi era.

A grocer's son enters the medicine trade

Butto Kristo Paul was born in 1835 in Shibpur, Howrah. He lost his parents when he was still a child and was brought to Kolkata by his maternal uncle, who gave him work in his shop.

Before eventually getting into medicines, Paul tried a few different businesses. He started with the opium trade but soon left it due to lack of interest. He then moved into jute, travelling by boat for work. That business ended after a life-threatening incident when his boat capsized.

"He then began working at a medicine shop in Burrabazar," Amit Kumar Paul, a fourth-generation member of B K Paul family, recalled. "The owner himself recognised his interest in the pharmaceutical trade and allowed him to use an empty room at 120 Khangrapatti Street, now known as Purushottam Ray Street, to start his own shop."

According to the family, Paul started the business there in 1858. He initially planned to sell Kaviraji medicines and locally manufactured products. The business, however, did not do as well as he had hoped.

Paul then began dealing in imported medicines, with a focus on allopathic drugs.

"He realised that allopathic medicines were highly effective and saw an opportunity to build a successful business around them," Amit Kumar Paul said.

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A 2018 academic study of the firm dates the beginning of the dedicated imported-medicine business to 1855 and describes Paul as one of the earliest Bengali importers of foreign medicines in colonial Calcutta.

From importer to manufacturer

It went on to open seven more centres across Kolkata. The outlets sold allopathic, homeopathic and Ayurvedic medicines, along with surgical instruments, dentistry supplies and printing machinery.

Paul also began moving into manufacturing. The family says he first set up a laboratory at 18 Sashi Sur Lane, but shifted the operation to Dum Dum when the premises became too small. The new factory produced medicines, as well as products such as arrowroot and cotton. It also had a facility for making tools used in surgical instruments.

By 1881, B K Paul's eldest son, Bhutnath Paul, had joined the business, with the promise of expanding it further.

One product in particular would go on to become closely associated with the company: Edward's Tonic, a remedy for malaria.

According to the historical account, the formula came from Edward Gower Stanley, an engineer associated with the colonial government. Stanley had once left his wallet at Paul's shop. When he came back for it, Paul had kept it safely.

Astounded with the honesty of Paul, Stanley gave him the formula for an anti-malarial preparation. Paul named it Edward's Tonic, after its inventor. The product later became a household name in India and abroad

"Every Sunday, it was distributed free of cost to people from both the house here and the Dum Dum factory," Amit Kumar Paul said.

The business had grown considerably by this point. By 1906, its capital had reached Rs 10 lakh. That year, Lord Minto, then Governor-General of India, appointed Butto Kristo Paul & Co. as an official chemist and druggist to the British crown.

Business and the Swadeshi movement

Paul's business was expanding at a time when Bengal itself was going through a period of change in science, medicine and industry.

Western medicine was becoming more established under colonial rule, while indigenous systems were increasingly pushed to the margins. At the same time, science and industrial production were beginning to emerge as the catalyst to India's economic development.

The Partition of Bengal in 1905 added a new dimension to these ideas.

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Sections of Bengal's scientific intelligentsia began to embrace Swadeshi (or home-made) as a way to promote economic and scientific self-reliance and pose a challenge to colonial rule. Indian pharmaceutical businesses were part of this shift, helping build a market for medicines made by Indian enterprises.

Paul, however, did not seek a prominent role in the movement. His work was more from the shadows.

"He was a major businessman, but he never wanted to be at the forefront of the Swadeshi movement. Instead, he supported the movement financially," Amit Kumar Paul said.

The company also supplied medicines to poor people, particularly during epidemics. This became another part of the business's presence in Kolkata.

From empire to a single shop

After Butto Kristo Paul's death in 1914, Bhutnath took charge of the business and carried on with its expansion.

The company later brought together three related businesses — Butto Kristo Paul & Co., B K Paul & Co. and B N Paul & Co., under the Buttokristo Paul & Co. name.

But the business could not retain the same scale forever. Over the years, changing market conditions, increased competition and a lack of interest among some of the later generations began to take a toll.

"My grandfather, Mr. Hari Shankar Paul, was the mayor of the Calcutta Corporation. He was an uncontested councillor from that area and was a wealthy man. He was also an MLA," he said. "He took the business to a new level. However, the subsequent generation of businessmen did not have the capacity to sustain the business at the same level."

The family says later generations gradually moved into other businesses and service-sector careers. That also meant fewer people were willing to take on the pharmaceutical business and build it back to its earlier size.

"Today, we are able to sustain the business, but reaching the scale and position it once enjoyed is difficult. In particular, given the level of competition today, it is difficult to maintain that kind of capital."

The difference in scale is striking. A business that once had eight outlets across Kolkata, a factory in Dum Dum and an office in London has, over five generations, come down to a single heritage pharmacy on a quiet lane in Sovabazar.

The shop is still there. Much of the business that surrounded it is not.

But the history of Butto Kristo Paul is not only about what happened to the company in the end.

Paul did not set out to become a nationalist industrialist. He was a businessman trying to make medicines available in colonial Calcutta. His company grew at a time when Indian businesses were beginning to enter scientific and industrial fields, and when ideas of economic self-reliance were gaining ground.

The pharmacy on Sovabazar Street is now perhaps the clearest reminder of how far that business once reached, from importing medicines into colonial Calcutta to building an Indian-owned pharmaceutical enterprise, and from a small shop to a business with a presence in London.