Colgate may get its smile back

Competition pressure and note-ban impact easing

Colgate-Palmolive India seems to have weathered the storm arising from rising popularity of peers, mainly Patanjali Ayurved. As feared earlier, it has not lost significant market share to competition. While demonetisation (note ban) had shifted some focus away from its naturals offering, Cibaca Vedshakti, experts believe this product will only aid Colgate in safeguarding its market share in an increasingly competitive toothpastes’ category.
 
“While competition is not new to Colgate, we argue that No 2 (Hindustan Unilever) or No 3 (Dabur) market share companies are more at risk from rising competition,” says Nitin Mathur, analyst at Jefferies. Colgate’s strong