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Business Standard

Colgate-Palmolive to bring new global brands beyond oral care to India

Consumer goods manufacturer and oral care giant Colgate-Palmolive is looking to introduce more global brands in India in categories beyond oral care, a top executive told Business Standard on Monday. 'There are lots of brands globally that could be a good fit for India. We are in conversation to bring some of them to India. The portfolio has a lot of home care and personal care products that we think have potential in India,' Prabha Narasimhan, managing director and chief executive officer at Colgate-Palmolive, told Business Standard. The company's personal care business in the country has outpaced the category's growth rate of 20 per cent, she further said. Narasimhan was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Oral Health Movement Summit in Delhi, an initiative launched by the company to help 4.5 million people screen their dental health and avail check-ups. Results from the screening show that almost 90 per cent of Indians face dental problems, with 41 per cent at risk of cavities, 44 per cent prone to gum issues, and 14 per cent prone to stains. According to Narasimhan, the consumption slowdown has impacted oral care categories too, along with other categories. 'The way we see the impact of the slowdown on a consumer changing their habits is not by stopping buying toothpaste or downtrading to lesser value products, but by titrating the amount of toothpaste they use per brush,' she said, adding that overall penetration of the category is not impacted. While the company's presence is skewed more towards the urban population, Narasimhan said that rural markets have been a bright spot — extremely buoyant in the last few quarters while outpacing urban. To drive urban growth, the company is betting big on premiumisation across categories. 'Another way is to make our core brands stronger to ensure that we are moving them forward in terms of the technology they offer and the benefits they deliver,' Narasimhan added. Meanwhile, the company witnessed its best year in the toothbrush category, 'driven by the availability of our Rs 20 and Rs 30 packs and selling more premium brushes in the modern trade channel. There continues to be definite headroom on both replacement and uptrading in the category,' she said. Colgate-Palmolive reported a 2 per cent year-on-year fall in revenue for the quarter ended March to Rs 1,452 crore, while its net profit declined 6.5 per cent for the same period to Rs 355 crore.