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Enters contract arrangement with J.L. Morrison Sons

Vishwanath Kulkarni

Bangalore, July 4 Wipro Consumer Care has taken the contract manufacturing route to enter the lucrative Sri Lankan toiletries market by partnering with J.L. Morrison Sons & Jones (Ceylon) Ltd recently.

Mr Kumar Chander, Vice-President, Marketing, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, said the company has entered into a brand licensing arrangement with J.L. Morrison Sons, which has started manufacturing Santoor soaps near Colombo over the last three to four months.

Wipro has taken the brand licensing route to beat the high customs tariff of 28 per cent in Sri Lanka. Together with other levies, the total tariffs in Sri Lanka add up to 38 per cent.

Wipro has been exporting Santoor to Sri Lanka and other SAARC countries for some time now, but in small quantities.

However, by getting into contract manufacturing arrangement, Wipro is aiming at a double digit market share in the next three to four years, Mr Chander said.

During the March quarter this year, Santoor became the third largest soap brand in the country overtaking Breeze. Santoor, with an estimated brand exceeding Rs 500 crore, now trails Lifebuoy and Lux. Santoor accounts for around 40 per cent of Wipro Consumer Care revenues.

For FY07, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting business grew 36 per cent to Rs 818 crore while the profit before income tax stood at Rs 100 crore, a growth of 25 per cent.

The brand licensing arrangement in Sri Lanka could be the first step for Wipro Consumer Care’s global presence.

Recent reports suggested that the Wipro was close to buying out the Singapore headquartered consumer care company Unza for a deal estimated to exceed Rs 1,000 crore.

Mr Chander sought to term the Unza buy-out reports as “speculative”.

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Wipro Consumer manufacturing Santoor soaps in Sri Lanka

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