Market share of oral care companies India H1 2018

Oral care accounted for about 16 percent of the fast-moving consumer goods market in India. Within the segment, Colgate occupied almost 53 percent of the market in 2017. Along with its competitors, Colgate offered a range of products in the market containing herbal and natural ingredients, especially in toothpastes.  

Traditional origins in oral care

The increasing awareness of the negative effects of fluoride in toothpaste had led to developments of more herbal and organic oral care products. Despite having been the market leader, Colgate-Palmolive lost consumers to its more ayurvedic competitors who focused on second-tier cities and smaller towns where oral hygiene was still a growing market.
Patanjali Ayurved and Dabur, both home-grown brands, had increasing consumer penetration through aggressive advertising and oral health camps focused on the rural areas. The main players Colgate-Palmolive, Hindustan Unilever and Himalaya continued to diversify their products in the metropolitan markets by introducing floss, dental rinses and mouthwashes.

Patanjali Ayurved’s Dant Kanti

 Compared to other herbal toothpastes, Patanjali’s Dant Kanti continued to increase its presence in the domestic natural oral care market. Increasing adoption of Ayurveda and its practices in India and aboard had helped Patanjali take off in an already conglomerate-established market. The indigenous company’s revenues had soared in recent years, multiplying tenfold.
Despite Colgate’s Vedshakti and HUL’s Ayush, the herbal alternatives not catching up to their native counterpart, both companies had stronger brand recall and footing among consumers in the country.