The fast-moving consumer goods companies are improvising their respective positions in the home and personal care space to overcome any slowdown. The Rs 14,000-crore fabric wash market in India is likely to grow over Rs 24,000 crore in the coming five years. The last decade has seen two major price wars in the category of soaps and detergents, the recent one in 2010 between Procter & Gamble and HUL. Going forward, the correction in input prices will bring back competition from unorganized players and companies need to adopt a differential strategy. A substantial amount of increment has to be brought down in terms of usage and that is in no measure encouraging premiumisation and is offering new benefits and new products such as liquid soaps, fabric conditioners and detergents of the same purpose. But at the same time, unorganized players could be at par. The Indian Soap Industry includes about 700 companies with combined annual revenue of about $17 billion. The Indian Soap Industry is highly concentrated with the top 50 companies holding almost 90% of the market. The industry is mainly spread over regions in and around New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Indore and Lucknow.
