Colgate admits to competition from Patanjali products

New Delhi: FMCG major Colgate-Palmolive has acknowledged competition from Baba Ramdev's Patanjali products.

As per a report in the Economic Times, Colgate Palmolive’s global CEO Ian Cook, while talking to investors during an earnings conference call, emphasised upon the need to respond to “changing consumer preferences in India” vis-a-vis Patanjali products.

“Patanjali in India takes a very nationalist view of its business,” Cook told investors.

“These are concepts in the local market. They tend to be premium price oriented and it means that you have to respond with a very specifically constructed offering that attacks the benefit the consumer is looking for. Hence the natural — the natural reaction,” he added.

Colgate-Palmolive India reported a marginal decline in net profit at Rs 142.58 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 143.27 crore during the same period last year, Colgate-Palmolive said in a BSE filing.

Net sales of the company rose 2.57 percent to Rs 1,171.77 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 1,142.36 crore in the January-March quarter of last fiscal.