Focus must be to move per capita consumption: Colgate India MD
Colgate-Palmolive India managing director Prabha Narasimhan said people are delaying purchases or extending consumption of daily household and personal products and with a large number of people making these small changes, it has led to a slowdown in the overall market.
«Consumers tend to titrate or delay their usage of things, just quite intuitively when they feel the pressure. We have so much headroom to go in terms of moving per capita consumption, our focus really needs to be on that instead of worrying about the big macro indicators and what's happening outside our control,» Narasimhan told ET. «We are certainly seeing a little bit of headwind as far as urban growth is concerned and I do expect it to be temporary.»
A report by NielsenIQ said urban demand increased 2.8% year-on-year in the July-September period, while rural demand grew more than twice as fast at 6%. Overall, the FMCG sector grew 5.7% by value and 4.1% by volume during the quarter. The company behind the eponymous toothpaste brand controls half the oral care segment in country and outpaced the market with 10% growth during quarter ended September.
In India, oral care consumption is very low and even markets such as the Philippines consume 1.8 times and Brazil 3.1 times compared to India. The company said oral health in India is often neglected and consumers don't take preventive action until it's too late. More than half the people do not brush daily in Indian villages and just a fifth brush twice a day in the cities. Eight out of 10 people
