Colgate’s single mandate is to drive growth: Narasimhan
₹5,279 crore. The Colgate brand has a significant share in India’s toothpaste segment. However, its portfolio under the Palmolive brand, offering products such as body wash and hand wash, is relatively small.
In an interview, Narasimhan shared her views on the company’s strategy to strengthen the core and expressed a strong intention to acquire local brands. Edited excerpts: What is the mandate from the global headquarters on the India business? Our single mandate is driving growth. China, the US and India sit in the global strategy as the called out countries.
The global headquarter, like any other company, is cognizant of the potential of this market. We are a highly profitable firm, therefore, the more growth we drive, all other lines will move as well. So that’s really our single mandate.
You spoke on green shoots in rural consumption. Now in the run-up to an election year will rural revival be more sustained? Given that we are beginning to see these green shoots and a little bit of revival, we are cautiously optimistic. As I said it is more structural than temporary.
Let’s see, time will tell. It also depends on what happens to the monsoon. In fact, many factors come into play, such as what happens to inflation.
Who could have predicted that inflation was going to be where it was over the last year and who could have predicted covid-19? We’re struggling to do the long-term predictions. So, I’m loathe to making long-term predictions. At this point, we are seeing this uptick that seems more structural and not intervention-led.
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