The consumer arm of Bangalore-based Wipro Ltd may extend its Yardley franchise to body lotions, Vineet Agarwal, president of the division, said today.
Currently, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (WCCL), which contributes nine per cent to the parent's overall turnover, has soaps, talcs, deodarants, after-shave lotions and shaving creams under Yardley in India. "We are contemplating to get body lotions into the country to beef up the portfolio here," Agarwal said.
Body lotions and body washes are part of the Yardley portfolio in West Asia, Agarwal said. "Indian consumers are slowly warming up to the concept here. So, yes, that option is open to us."
Wipro will not be the first one to be getting into the space, viewed as a subset of the Rs 3,000-crore skincare market in India.
Most personal care majors are slowly but steadily extending their portfolios into this segment, to acquire more consumers. Hindustan Unilever, for instance, has moved into the body care space with its Vaseline range of products. So have companies such as Emami and L'Oreal.
Agarwal says he’s not worried on competition. "If you have a strong product, it will work."
For the quarter ended December 31, 2010, WCCL's personal care business, which includes Yardley, Santoor and Chandrika brands, among other products, grew by 30 per cent, second only to its furniture business, which registered growth of 32 per cent.
Its commercial lighting, switches and international business grew by 26 per cent, 24 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.
Overall, WCCL's growth in top line (sales revenue) for the third quarter, as well as the nine-month period ended December, was 21 per cent respectively to Rs 695 crore and Rs 2,001, as against Rs 574 crore and Rs 1,653 crore reported for the corresponding periods a year earlier.
Profit before interest and tax grew 14 per cent for both the quarter and nine-month period ended December, to Rs 85.4 crore and Rs 258 crore versus Rs 74.9 crore and Rs 226 crore a year before.
