Bharathi Soap plans to launch new brands

Guntur-based Bharathi Soap Works, which makes about 10 brands of washing soaps and powders, is set to launch a toilet soap brand, apart from a liquid blue brand.

Bharathi Soap Works is also preparing to enter corporate agriculture and bio-diesel segments and has acquired large chunks of land for the purpose.

Bharathi Soap Works managing director A Manickavel told Business Standard that his firm had clocked a turnover of Rs 4 crore in 2003-04 and was slated to record revenues of more than Rs 5 crore in the current fiscal.

The soap company is targeting a turnover of Rs 30 crore in the next five years.

Manickavel said that the company's 'Triple-X', 'Blue Diamond' and 'Green Diamond' washing soap and powder brands were very popular due to the customisation efforts made. Triple-X had clicked in a big way in Telangana districts as it was made keeping in mind the hard water available in most of those areas.

The other two detergent brands "� Blue Diamond and Green Diamond "� were made to suit soft water found in coastal districts and Rayalaseema.

"Our customer base lies in villages. Rural people judge a product by its quality unlike urban people who fall prey to advertisements. We are growing every year because villagers recognise our quality," Manickavel said.

"Moreover, our products are selling at a 40 per cent lower mark up than that of multinational and popular domestic brands," he added.

"All our washing soaps and powders are on a par with mutinational brands as far as quality is concerned. In fact, some multinational and big domestic brands are inferior in quality when compared with Bharathi products," Manickavel claimed.

The real competition according to him came from a few soap companies, located in Tamil Nadu, which had entered the Andhra Pradesh market recently. "These Tamil Nadu-based companies compete with me in quality and price," he said.