Desi beats?

If you thought that FMCG companies meant bigwig MNCs who rule the roost, there could be a new lesson waiting to be learnt soon. It has been seen over the past few months that smaller, local companies are soon gaining more prominence over the bigwigs. Its unbelievable to know that smaller companies like Paras Pharma (Moov, Krack, D’cold , Dermicool and Itchguard), Cavin Kare, Zydus Wellness, MTR, Capital Foods, Desai Brothers and Temptation Foods have started eating away the juicy pie of brands from the established MNCs like Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Nestle.

Paras Pharma’s deodorant brand Set Wet is No. 2 in the male grooming category after HUL’s Axe. Its D’cold brand share rose while that of Vicks Action 500 and Crocin stagnated. Its hair serum brand Livon is the numero uno, competing headon with P&G’s Pantene Hair Serum. Nestle’s Maggi and HUL’s Kissan are dominant players in the ketchup segment but they are now having sleepless nights with Capital Foods brand Smith & Jones eating away the market share. Desai Brothers Mother’s Recipe brand of pickles, spices and ready-to-eat foods are virtual market leaders.

This is not a new thing. If one may recollect, it was the small time entrepreneur Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma who gave HUL’s Surf a run for its money. And now, with a new crop of entrepreneurs literally taking over the FMCG sector, surely the MNC FMCG would realize that they need to do more than merely hire Bollywood actors for their advertisements, paying bizarre amounts of money.