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Ratna Bhushan

NEW DELHI, May 5

COOL is in, even in the hair oil sector. AC Nielsen/ORG data for fiscal 2002-03 shows that cooling hair oils, which account for close to 11 per cent of the Rs 1,634-crore hair care oils market, registered an impressive 7.1 per cent value growth in 2002-03, even as categories such as perfumed hair oils and light hair oils de-grew.

In value terms, cooling hair oils was a Rs 176.3-crore market in 2002-03, compared to Rs 164.5 crore the previous year. Category growth has been spurred primarily by efforts of the Emami group's cooling hair oil brand, Navratna.

Said Mr Aditya Agarwal, Director, Emami group, "Five years ago, the cooling hair oil category was dominated only by regional brands such as Banphool and Himtaj, which had limited availability and were not advertised on mass media. However, Navratna tel's success shows that Indians have a strong preference for cooling hair oils." Analysts attribute category growth to prolonged summer months and cooling hair oils offering therapeutic benefits such as relief from stress and headache.

According to Mr Agarwal, the success of Navratna tel has also been due to consistent advertising on television with film star Govinda as brand ambassador. Cooling oils have attracted other players as well. Dabur recently entered this category with its Himsagar brand. Other brands include RahatRooh and Shanti Thanda.

Another category that grew was that of coconut-based oils, registering a 4.8 per cent growth. By value, the category grew to Rs 112.7 crore in 2002-03, compared to Rs 107.5 crore the previous year. Coconut-based light hair oils also showed double-digit value growth of 13.8 per cent last fiscal. In absolute terms, the category grew to Rs 66.9 crore last fiscal against Rs 58.7 crore the previous year.

Meanwhile, overall, the hair care oils market remained sluggish, registering a decline of 0.66 per cent by value in fiscal 2002-03 compared to fiscal 2001-02, when value growth was at 5.9 per cent. AC Nielsen estimates that in 2002-03, the hair care oils market was valued at Rs 1,634 crore, compared to Rs 1,645 crore the previous year.

Said Mr S. Raghunandan, head, family products division, Dabur India, "This is a cause for worry for the industry. Last year, poor monsoons led to oil seed prices increasing, which resulted in companies' margins taking a hit. In hair oils, as much as 45 per cent of all costs are accounted for by raw material costs."

Among the slow movers were perfumed hair oils and light hair oils. The latter declined from Rs 187.5 crore in 2001-02, to Rs 174.5 crore in 2002-03.

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