May 28, 2014: India’s Oral Care Market which is presently valued at Rs.7,000 cr is seeing some strong action and this action is only going to heat up in the coming days if indications from different reports are to be believed. The oral care market which has a dominating presence of heavyweights like Colgate, P&G and HUL would be seeing some new launches in the days to come.
Presently the Indian Oral Care market is dominated by Colgate with 54.3 per cent market share followed by Hindustan Unilever (HUL) with 23.7 per cent and Dabur with 11 per cent. Though P&G is considered to be an insignificant player, it has been a year since its Oral-B brand was launched and the brand is said to be doing well in the Indian market. According to Edelweiss, P&G has got a market share of 1.2 per cent in India. P&G is also looking to extend its value added Crest toothpaste nationally in the days to come.
Colgate also has been going aggressive and recently unveiled a mid premium brand called Colgate Maximum Cavity Protection which the company describes as a technological breakthrough. There are also reports that Hindustan Unilever which is the second largest oral care company in India is looking to launch whitening toothpaste under the Close-Up brand named ‘Close-Up Diamond Attraction’. Atul Sinha, Category Head, Oral Care, HUL was quoted as saying “We believe Close-Up Diamond Attraction will be a game changer in the category as it transcends from oral care into the beauty space, and leverages on the growing trend of consumption in the beauty segment in India.”
Dabur which has now become a Rs.200 crore brand has been doing well in the Indian market and its Dabur Red Toothpaste has been its flagship product with a annual growth rate of 17 per cent. In the Indian Oral Care market Colgate has been constantly gaining market share whereas the market share of HUL has been continuously eroding. The performance of P&G is nothing much to write about mainly because it has got only 12 SKUs and its products are available only in select markets.
