Chander Mohan Sethi, chairman & managing director Reckitt Benckiser India, said his firm will see topline growth in excess of 15 per cent this year. The unlisted subsidiary of the UK-based leader in household care products is reported to be clocking revenues close to Rs 2,000 crore in India. The firm has a presence in both personal care and household care with products such as Lifebuoy, Veet, Harpic and Lizol. Sethi takes time out to speak with our reporter, Viveat Susan Pinto.
Edited excerpts:
Reckitt, internationally, has a host of power brands. But only a few exist in India. Any plans to introduce more brands?
In the last five years, five power brands from Reckitt’s international portfolio have made their way to India, including Veet, Vanish, Easy Off-Bang, Air Wick and Finish. These are in the household care and personal care categories. We will continue to see how we can introduce more power brands here.
Crude has spiked to $82 a barrel. There will obviously be an impact on crude-linked products. What are you doing to tackle these cost pressures. Any price hikes in the offing?
We are evaluating the impact on costs as a result of the spike in crude. Palm oil has also been firm. That also impacts us. We are looking at all costs, packaging, raw material and freight in the wake of these cost pressures. At an overall level, however, we have been cautious with price hikes. We would rather manage our costs better than increase prices. We only pass what is required. Our last price hike, for instance, was over 12 months ago. We took about a 3-5 per cent price hike then.
What was the growth for Dettol in the last two quarters?
We have been logging growth in the very high teens and above. Almost all formats of Dettol are doing well. For instance, we have a share of 55 per cent in liquid hand wash. We are the leaders there. In the antiseptic liquid segment, we have an 85 per cent share; again we are the leaders there. In Dettol soaps, our growth has been good. We moved from under four per cent to 8.5 per cent in less than four years. We recently introduced hand sanitisers. That is one more format we have added to the list. Am I happy with the growth? Yes, I am.
But in such segments as mosquito coils, Reckitt's Mortein, the market leader, has been facing stiff competition from Jyothy’s Maxo and Godrej Consumer’s Good Knight. How do you propose to tackle this?
It is a challenge. I don't deny that. We have just relaunched our mosquito coil. It is doing well. As things stand, Mortein continues to be number one in at least six or seven states. We are holding our ground.
What is your expected growth in household insecticides as a business?
The industry is growing at 10 per cent. We don’t expect to lose share in our business. Overall, we are ranked second after GCPL in household insecticides, with a share of 22 per cent. Can we do better? Yes, we can. For instance, in aerosols, we trade positions between two and three, while in vaporisers, we are number three. This can be better.