Dabur India targets Rs55 crore from Odomos
By Our Corporate Bureau | 03 Aug 2007
Chennai: Indian FMCG company Dabur India Limited hopes to net in Rs55 crore this fiscal, up from Rs36 crore in the last financial year from its portfolio of mosquito repellent variants of cream, gel and lotion under the Odomos brand. The company has re-launched the Odomos cream and is boosting the other two variants.
According to Girish Kumar, general manager, home care division, Dabur India has reformulated the Odomos cream to make it non greasy. The new cream also has a pleasant fragrance and the colour has been changed from yellow-green to a neutral white. The product is marketed in four pack sizes - 12gm, 25gm, 50gm and 100gm.
The overall Indian mosquito repellent market is estimated at around Rs1,100 crore. Broadly the segment is divided into insecticide-based coils (market size Rs780 crore), mats (Rs60 crore), liquid vaporiser products (Rs280 crore), and personal application creams, gels and lotions, the combined market size of which is Rs40 crore but which is growing at an impressive rate.
According to Kumar, the market share for mats is on the decline while the other categories are logging growth. "Dabur India is focussing on the cream, gel and lotion segments though the company markets coils and liquid vaporisers in select markets. The company commands 96 per cent market share in the personal application mosquito repellent product segment, he claims.
The other major player in the cream, lotion and gel segment is Godrej Sara Lee Limited with its Good Knight brand. Interestingly the main ingredients for the two brands are different. While Godrej Sara Lee uses diethyl toluamide, popularly known as DEET, Dabur India uses NN Diethyl Benzamide. Both are effective in masking the body odour that attracts the mosquitoes.
Dabur India acquired the Odomos brand from Balsara Home Products Limited a couple of years ago and is now re-launching it under the new pack and formulation with an aggressive media campaign.
This apart, Dabur is also negotiating with state governments like Tamil Nadir to offer some quantities of Dooms cream for free distribution amongst people living in mosquito infested areas.
