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Purvita Chatterjee

Mumbai, June 23 With a forward integration strategy, Birla Cellulose (the fibre division of the Aditya Birla group) has entered the disposable natural wipes category, taking the onus of creating a new FMCG segment in the country.

Segmenting its disposable wipes under brands such as Kara (skincare), Purreta (Baby care), Prim (homecare) and Handy (hand santizers), the fibre maker will now sport its branded wipes with value-added ingredients.

With a special focus on the institutional segment, Birla Cellulose is planning to tie up with airlines, travel agencies, pharma companies and schools to promote and build this sector.

Mr Vijay Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer, Birla Cellulose, said, “We are targeting a turnover of between Rs 30-40 crore in the first year of launch and have the onus of creating the disposable wipes segment in the country.”

Focussing on institutional sales, the fibre maker is also planning to tie up with Kingfisher Airlines to promote its range of disposable wipes and with travel agencies like Akbar travels besides reaching out to doctors and students.

“For our hand sanitizing wipes, we are planning to promote it to pharma companies and doctors and even take the product to schools,” says Mr Kaul. Instead of using the product from a bottle, the value-added wipes are being positioned as an easier and convenient way of using the product.

“Our pricing for the wipes is significantly cheaper than the price charged for a bottle of the same product, be it hand sanitizer or a sunblock wipe,” adds Mr Kaul.

The disposable wipes market is estimated at Rs 50 crore. The sector in India is currently fragmented and unorganised, with a couple of national brands like Fresh Ones.

“Most of the wipes made are synthetic while ours would be the first natural wipe in the category. In fact, we now have to create a segment for natural wipes as it is forward integration of our current business,” says Mr Kaul.

Birla Cellulose has appointed Contract Advertising in Mumbai to create a campaign for its new wipes, and has assigned an ad budget of Rs 10-12 crore for the same.

“Wipes is a $9-billion market worldwide. We have the job of educating consumers about the segment and depending on how it grows, we will tap into new areas,” says Mr Kaul.

At the same time, there are plans to take the branded wipes to neighboring countries of South Asia such as Nepal and Bangladesh.

“There are plans to take the brands abroad to the South Asian countries and there would be local distributors for these markets,” said Mr Kaul.

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