Godrej to launch new products, target urban consumers

FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd is banking on new products, mainly targeted at urban consumers, to offset impact of decline in rural demand due to deficient monsoon.
The company is set to launch new products in personal care and home care segments in the next two weeks which is expected to boost its urban sales in the coming quarters.
"We have a good standard pipeline and we keep on launching innovative products... There would be couple of products which would come for urban areas in the next two weeks in personal-care and home-care space," GCPL Business Head India and SAARC Sunil Kataria told PTI.

With commodity prices very low, he said it is an opportune time for FMCG companies to launch new products which could help to overcome slowdown.
"These are the best time to launch new product developments (NPDs) which will help you to overcome any slowdown," he said, adding GCPL would launch a couple of more products in Q4.
"If any company comes with strong innovative products, we have seen that even in the worst of the times, if you are differentiated with innovation, then consumer would still pay for you," he added.

On the slowdown in the rural market due to deficit of monsoon, Kataria said its impact on GCPL would be less as compared to its peers.

"The good part is that GCPL's rural sales are not as high as other companies. It is 28 per cent (of total sales) and rest 72 per cent comes from urban sales," he said.
GCPL had a consolidated net sales of Rs 8,242.20 crore in FY 2014-15.
Moreover, he said most of the products which GCPL sells in rural areas are not discretionary items like deodorants, talcum powders, perfumes but are basic necessity items as soaps and mosquito repellents which have demand even during slowdown.
"Those discretionary products would be impacted first," he said.