Before the COVID-19 crisis, sanitizers were mostly used by people who were extremely cautious about cleanliness. There were just a few popular products then—Dettol from Reckitt Benckiser, Savlon from ITC and Lifebuoy from HUL. Post the spread of the pandemic, with hand washing being advocated as one of the means to stay safe, hand sanitizers gained popularity. And new entrants and smaller players jumped in to exploit the demand surge.
Around 61 per cent of the market has been captured by these newly launched brands after the spread of COVID-19, PTI quoted a report as saying. In the month of January and February, the top three fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands enjoyed 85 per cent market share of the hand sanitizers.
Looking to exploit this market opportunity is Baba Ramdev's Patanjali. The yoga guru launched a sales pitch on Tuesday, taking the biggie, Dettol, head on.
In a tweet, Ramdev said while Dettol sanitizers are being sold for Rs 82 for 50 ml, a 120ml bottle of the the Patanjali product is available at merely half the price—Rs 55. He urged the people to go desi and save the country. "India is a market for foreign companies, but for Patanjali, India is family. Save the country from loot, adopt Patanjali," he said in a tweet.
Several liquor makers, sugar factories and others also started production of hand santizer after the government asked them to manufacture to meet the growing demand to tackle spread of pandemic.
In March, the ministry of consumer affairs had capped the maximum retail price of hand sanitizer at Rs 100 per 200ml bottle till June 30 this year amid a sharp rise in the prices of this product owing to the coronavirus outbreak.
(With PTI inputs)