Owners are here, but not brands

Even as Indian FMCG companies go abroad with their shopping bags and acquire consumer goods companies, don't expect to see the brands soon. The reasons vary from the acquired brands not finding a natural fit with Indian consumer needs to stray cases where the international brand rights do not belong to the acquirer in India.

In the last two years Indian FMCG companies, Godrej, Marico and Wipro have acquired close to 70 brands between themselves from countries ranging from the UK to Bangladesh. But barring a couple of cases like Godrej's Erasmic shaving products none of the international brands are in India.

When Wipro acquired Unza, the Asian company with 48 brands of FMCG products, early this month the acquisition clearly increased the number of brands in Wipro's portfolio from seven to 55. But Wipro is in no hurry to launch these brands in India. "Even Unza sells only 4-5 brands from its portfolio across all markets it operates in. The rest are local brands," says Vineet Agarwal, president, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting.

There also seems to be no plans of taking Indian brands to foreign shores using the distribution network of acquired foreign brands. What these acquisitions are apparently meant to do, therefore, is give the Indian companies an immediate thrust to their product portfolio.

In the last two years, Godrej Consumer Products Limited has acquired 15 brands divided between its Keyline Brands acquisition in the United Kingdom and Rapidol of South Africa. Marico, too, acquired two brands in Egypt and two in Bangladesh.

Indian consumer goods company, Wipro is the latest to hop on to the acquisition bandwagon. The company paid a hefty Rs 1,018 crore to buy its way into Singapore-based Unza which has 48 brands straddling the personal care segment. Unza also has a massive distribution channel covering five South-east Asian countries.

At present Wipro's portfolio in personal care includes toilet soaps, skin creams and a baby care range. The Unza acquisition will give it access to a wide array of products that include deodorants, fragrances, creams, shampoos, body washes and household cleaning products. However, it seems that Wipro, too, would not be interested in actually bringing Unza brands into India or pushing its own products in markets elsewhere.

Vijay Subramaniam, chief executive of Marico's international business division agrees that it is safer to sell products from acquired companies in their native countries or expand distribution in countries in that particular region.

Marico acquired the Aromatic and Camelia- toilet soap brands in Bangladesh in 2005, post wash brands Haircode and Fiancee in Egypt in 2006 and a controlling stake in US-based spa products brand Sundari in 2003.

However, says Saugata Gupta, chief of marketing, Marico Industries, "It is expensive to establish a new brand and therefore, makes sense to leverage the brand value of a product in locations where it is already familiar. Marico has not launched any of its acquired brands in India.

Godrej, too, is not considering the possibility of selling in India the brands that we acquired abroad. Only Erasmic, the men's shaving gear brand from Keyline, UK has been launched here. H K Press, president, Godrej Consumer Products Limited says, "What is popular in UK, might not suit skin or hair conditions in India and vice-versa. Only Erasmic shaving cream from Keyline has been introduced in India. We are simply using the brand name as the product is being manufactured locally in India."

Cuticura from Keyline is also available in India. However Godrej cannot market the Cuticura brand in India as the marketing rights are held by Cholayil, a South India-based consumer goods company.