Colgate Palmolive to build two new oral care facilities in India

Oral care maker Colgate Palmolive India has revealed that it is planning to open two new facilities in states ofGujarat and Andhra Pradesh in India.

Colgate Palmolive India chairman Mukul Deoras said the firm had taken around 39 acres on lease from Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation for Rs426.2m($7.5m) to construct a new plant in Gujarat to manufacture toothpaste.

"Sri City in southern Andhra Pradesh is another place where we have acquired around 25 acres and have paid Rs 11.4 crore as part of the initial lease. This place, where we will set up a tooth brush manufacturing plant, is not very far from Chennai," said Deoras.

Both plants are expected to be operational by 2013, while the capacity addition at the new units details were not disclosed.

The company said it that also invested about Rs540m ($9.6m) to bolster the tooth brush and tooth paste production capacities.

The company closed operations of its Hyderabad plant in the 2011 due to poor demand for tooth powder.

According to the firm, the Hyderabad unit was manufacturing only tooth powder, and as consumers upgraded from tooth powder to toothpaste, total volume of tooth powder that the firm could sell fell.

Colgate-Palmolive India posted a 17% rise in net profit for the first quarter ended 30 June 2012 to Rs1.17bn ($20.88m), compared to Rs1bn ($17.85m) in the same quarter a year earlier.

During the current quarter of 2012, the company achieved a volume growth of 11%.

The company has improved its position in the toothpaste category by gaining 54.3% volume market share, compared to 52.3% in 2011.

Colgate Palmolive imports finished goods from China, Thailand and Turkey, while the company’s major export destinations are Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Kenya and some African countries.