ITC looks to strike up ambience with agarbattis

Nancy Jose

FMCG major ITC Ltd is exploring opportunities to tap the niche aromatherapy market through introduction of customized incense sticks (agarbattis) which can be used for “ambience creation.”

According to market sources, ITC’s agarbatti business is growing at over 35 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The market-size is estimated to be close to Rs 3,000 crores ($ 545.45 million).

Cycle brand of agarbattis was one of the lead sponsors of the India-Sri Lanka cricket series 2012.

It appears that ITC is attempting to transform the traditional incense sticks (usually used for religious purposes) and make it more relevant to the modern times i.e. ambience creation. This could result in an increase in competition as companies like ITC are also considering entering the mainstream air care market.

Read the entire article HERE

Source: Business Line; July 12, 2012

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Ground water depletion - a reality?

Nancy Jose

A below par monsoon is likely to affect the agrarian economy and add to urban India’s water woes. However, monsoon may not be the only cause for the latter.

Groundwater all across the country is depleting. The figures are shocking: Seventy-two per cent of the country falls under the "crucial zone", where groundwater has been over-exploited. Be it urban or rural India, water supply and its quality is pathetic.

Policy paralysis and an appalling lack of management have turned burgeoning India into waterless, despairing India.

Launching products (for example: bathing and surface care products) that use up less water could mean conservation of water and hence, a decline in water problems of urban and rural India!

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Source:  India Today; July 6, 2012

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The eternal battle between P&G and Unilever is intensifying in the developing world

Misha Mathew

 Some highlights:

• The sense that Unilever is on the up, whereas P&G is in trouble, is the latest swing of a pendulum that only five years ago saw Unilever struggling as P&G soared.

• P&G expects developing markets to contribute 37% of its total revenues this year, up from 34% in 2010 (and 23% in 2005). For Unilever, the share from developing markets is already up to 56% of sales, from 53% in 2010.

• P&G had underestimated the competition in emerging markets, not just from traditional rivals like Unilever but from local firms, some of which are fast becoming as professional as any multinational company from a rich country. As a result P&G underestimated the cost of building its presence in these countries. In its efforts to find cash to finance its emerging-market expansion, P&G pushed up its prices in rich countries to levels that consumers were not ready to accept.

• Unilever is far stronger than P&G in India, where it has long been considered a local company (likewise in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). It is still known there as Hindustan Unilever, a reference to the decades its local subsidiary spent as an essentially independent company before its fuller integration into the global firm in recent years.

• Unilever benefits from India's continued reliance on small family shops (compared with the supermarkets prevalent in China), with which it has long-established relationships, and from India's far larger bottom-of-the-pyramid population. 

It seems that Hindustan Unilever has the upper hand in India due to its efforts to reach every possible segment. Its inclusive attitude and innovative strategies are the key to reach masses.

Read the entire article HERE

Source: The Economist; June 30th, 2012

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