In 1950s good shaving razor blades were very expensive in India because of restriction on imports. 7 o'clock and Gillette blades were available for a very high price and people used to prolong the life of these blades by using a blade sharpener (available in blue or light green colour).
As far as I remember the first blade manufactured in India was Bharat blade which was available for four Anna's for a pack of 5 blades.
it was a poor quality blade and one needed alum to rub on the tiny cuts from this blade during shaving.
I remember that on a day in the latter half of 1966 the first good Indian blade hit the market. It was Erasmic Silk Edge blade.
The price was 50 paise for a pack of 5 blates and in the days following there was a big rush to buy these high quality blades.
Similar is the story of wristwatches. After independence, due to high customs duty, wristwatches became a very expensive item. By 1967 one had to part with around Rs.300 rupees to buy a standard imported watch (equal to around Rs. 30000 rupees of today).
And then in 1967 came the first Indian watch - HMT Janata watch.
There was initially a huge rush at the sales points and I remember I purchased my first HMT Janata watch for a family member for rupees 107 and 50 paisa by standing in a long queue at the Patel Chowk GPO building in Delhi .
it was only in early nineties that floodgates for imports were opened in India and suddenly the world was our market !
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