The Hindu Business Line : Ajanta Health hopeful of regaining IDA approval

AJANTA Health, having worked up a froth in the Indian toothpaste market by posting a sale of Rs 106 crore in its first year of operation (2003-04), seems to have joined the big league in oral care in no uncertain terms.

The Gujarat-based company, that is presently setting up its second manufacturing base in Himachal Pradesh and targeting a doubling of turnover in this fiscal, has been forced to fight for something that it had taken for granted - approval of the Indian Dental Association (IDA).

The company that rewrote the rules in toothpaste pricing by selling 200 gm packs at Rs 21 has been forced to shed its IDA endorsement, following a Bombay High Court directive last month.

Having staked its claim last year to becoming only the second toothpaste manufacturer to get the IDA endorsement, Ajanta Health, has now six months to win back the coveted tag. Till that time the company has to make do with two other endorsements - Vegetarian Society of UK and the Dental Association.

Even as the court ruled that the IDA endorsement, given by the Shimoga branch of the organisation, would now need to be ratified at the national level, Ajanta Health has the dental body's national executive committee member, Dr Pradeep Jain, to bat for the product.

Dr Jain, also the president of the Indore branch of IDA, said that Ajanta Health stood a very good chance in winning back the IDA endorsement at a national level in the stipulated time frame.

"We at the IDA are convinced that Ajanta has a product in its toothpaste that is high on quality and low on price, making it affordable to the rural masses. Ajanta provides good quality and rich composition in both white and gel paste segment at an affordable price. There is no doubt in my mind that the pending issue of IDA endorsement will soon be resolved," Dr Jain said.

Mr Manish Purohit, CEO, Ajanta Health, said that the impact of the toothpaste was felt in almost every household in the country as the company's aggressive pricing strategy forced the completion including the big players to cut their price by as much as Rs 20 per 200 gm pack.

It did not matter whether one used Ajanta toothpaste or not but the last year saw what a `Made In India' toothpaste like Ajanta could do as the prices of toothpaste crashed like never before, he said.

With Ajanta Health ready to commission a 50 tpd plant at Kala Amb in Himachal Pradesh, the Gujarat company seems to be ready to outgrow its label as a regional player.

Coupled with its existing 70 tpd manufacturing base in Morbi, near Rajkot, the group known till a year ago only for its wall clocks and watches may be biding time to emerge as a national player.

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