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Purvita Chatterjee

MUMBAI, July 10

IN a market which is registering declining growth rates for talcum powders, HLL has been busy stretching the franchise of various brands into this category.

In the past few weeks, it has extended the brand Vaseline to talcum powder from petroleum jelly, possibly in an attempt to hold on to its reigning 58 per cent value share in the talcum powder market.

Speaking to Business Line, an HLL official said, "We believe the market is growing and there is scope for new brands." Considering Pond's Dreamflower brand of talcum powder from the HLL stable is one brand which is sitting pretty with a 32 per cent value share, the company is hoping that its other talcum brands (mostly extensions of its soap and deo brands) such as Liril, Denim and Axe, will help add on to its market shares and thereby the company will continue to dominate and monopolise the category.

Apart from the existing talcum powder brands of Ponds Dreamflower and Ponds Magic, in the past year, HLL stretched the Ponds franchise to a `Light N Easy' variant, while a sandalwood variant exists only in markets down South and in Maharashtra. Besides its male deo brand of Axe was extended to a powder this year in spite of the existence of its other male powder brand of Denim in the market.

According to ORG-Marg, the market for talcum powder is pegged at Rs 700 crore with a de-growth in the range of 4-5 per cent. Of late, brands such as `Dr Smyle' and `Boroplus' have been giving away free packs to push sales. According to an industry observer, these freebies help in adding on to the shares of these new brands and are not recorded by ORG.

In fact, market observers feel that players such as HLL have been trying to entice the youth into this category. Talcum powders are perceived to be fairness products, making it more acceptable in these markets.

Meanwhile, according to industry sources, HLL's next line extension into powders is going to be for its mega brand of Fair & Lovely, which, in the recent past, has just stretched itself into an ayurvedic cream. Fair & Lovely, which is one of the largest brands contributing to Lever's bottomlines has already stretched itself from a fairness cream to a soap and an under-eye gel.

According to Mr Sandeep Sharma, Vice-President, Lowe Lintas & Partners, "Fair & Lovely is one of Lever's biggest brands and we are not in a position to comment about its line extensions."

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