Other news outlets that reported the false story included the German newspaper Bild and the editor of India's Hindustan Times.
Hindustan Lever is among the most powerful multinationals in India.
Some despots, in Hindustan and Persia, went further, slitting smokers' lips or pouring molten lead down their throats.
Hindustan Zinc is now the group's most profitable unit and the lowest-cost zinc producer in the world.
The sheath takes its place alongside the company's other offerings, including a textured condom and one that glows in the dark.HLL Lifecare, which until this year was called Hindustan Latex, is one of 246 enterprises owned by India's central government.
A drop in the government's shareholding from 100% to 50% raises the return on assets by about 24%, according to a recent study by Saibal Ghosh of the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank.The rebranded Hindustan Latex shows how public enterprises can evolve, if given the freedom to do so.
They are even to be found in big companies such as ICICI, a leading bank, Hindustan Unilever, a consumer-goods giant, and Comat Technologies, which provides information to rural Indians.
In August this year Mr Bhagwat directly echoed Savarkar by saying all who live in "Hindustan" are in fact Hindus, whatever Muslims, Christians or secular Hindus might say.
Hindustan Unilever, a food and personal-care giant, is another, less self-conscious exponent.
Hinduism, they claim, is the religion of "Hindustan", the whole subcontinent.
Yet Doug Baillie, chairman of Hindustan Unilever, which is listed separately on the Mumbai stock exchange, is also looking at other opportunities.
