Reckitt to invest Rs 60cr in Uttaranchal facility

Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd, a household cleaning products company, is setting up a big factory in Uttaranchal with an investment of Rs 60 crore to double its production capacity.

On the sidelines of a press conference organised to announce the launch of its campaign called 'Dettol Surakshi Parivar', Chander Mohan Sethi, chairman and managing director, RBIL, said the company had just started the construction of the factory, which is expected to be ready by December. This expansion is likely to meet the company's demand for the next four years.

The factory would manufacture a number of products including handwash products. It is likely to have an annual throughput capacity for Rs 400 crore.

Earlier, Sethi said RBIL's turnover was about Rs 1,000 crore and its turnover doubled in the last four years. One of the key drivers for this growth was its spend on branding and marketing. It was spending over 16 per cent of its sales in marketing.

Sethi said the 'Dettol Surakshit Parivar' programme was aimed at advocating better hygiene practices in families to ensure protection from illness caused by germs, particularly among children.

Sethi said liquid handwash category was growing at 40 per cent even with a low handwash household penetration of 3 per cent in the country. As per the AC Nielsen trackings, the market size of handwash is estimated at about Rs 35 crore, while the untracked market size may be double the amount, he added.

He added that liquid handwash category had the potential to grow exponentially through awareness campaigns.

The 'Dettol Surakshit Parivar' campaign would be undertaken at three levels "" 'new mother programme', 'school handwash programme' and 'hospital programme'. Initially, the programme will be spread across six metros "" Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The company would run the campaign in association with the Indian Medical Association (IMA). It has earmarked a budget of about Rs 5 crore for the programme.

In the first phase, the campaign is expected to contact over 12 lakh new mothers, 3 lakh school children and 250 hospitals in the six metros. About 40 per cent of the contacts is planned in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. In Chennai alone, the campaign would cover about 2 lakh. The company would distribute free samples of Dettol antiseptic liquid during the campaign.

Answering a question on covering rural areas, Sethi said though the company was not physically present in the rural areas, about 30 per cent of the sales came from rural areas. The company plans to continue this programme for the next few years and cover mini-metros, Tier II cities and rural areas in phases.

The company's flagship brand, Dettol accounted for one third of its sales. According to an AC Nielsen report, Dettol is reported to have garnered a market share of 60 per cent in the handwash segment and Dettol soap had a market share of 18-plus in the health soap market and 4 per cent in the total soap market, said Sethi.