Kimberly-Clark International, makers of Huggies diapers, believes that India will become a key market for it by 2020. The company, which operates through a joint venture with Hindustan Unilever in India, called Kimberly-Clarke Lever, said it would singularly focus on increasing its presence in the kids’ diaper market for the next few years.

“About 25-26 million babies get added to India’s population every year. But it is a relatively under-developed market for diapers. As we have more and more working mothers seeking convenience, the demand for diapers will keep increasing,” Achal Agarwal, President-Asia Pacific, Kimberly-Clark International, told BusinessLine .

The market for diapers in the country is pegged at about $300-400 million, which is small compared with some other markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The company believes that there is still huge, untapped potential in the metros, and believes that diapers are also being adopted in some rural pockets.

Agarwal said: “India is right now a relatively small market but it will always be a significant market in terms of potential. We look at India as the market for the future and believe that by 2020 it will become a big market for us. It is witnessing a strong double digit growth.”

On the company’s plans to introduce other products from its portfolio, Agarwal said, “As a strategy we have chosen to focus on Huggies for the next few years. We go where the babies are and we are engaging with the Indian mother, offering her innovative products.” The company will also look at further marketing of other brands, such as feminine hygiene brand Kotex, and incontinence brand for the aged, Depend, in India.

As far as its presence in tissue products is concerned, the company feels there are challenges for scaling up the business. “In the Indian market, there are plenty of tissue manufacturers. In order to manufacture these in India, we will need a certain amount of scale and (we are) not sure if that kind of scale will be available at the premium end, where Kleenex is positioned. We don’t want to enter the low-end tissue category,” he added.

The company, though, will look at introducing value-added products, such as Kleenex wipes, in India. Vikas Singh, Managing Director, Kimberly-Clark Lever, India, said, “We are in discussions to introduce Kleenex wipes. We will test them in the market, assess the potential and look at leveraging on synergies.”

Talking about the growth in sales through e-commerce, he said that the channel lends very well to their category (Huggies) and that they are seeing it grow at a very fast pace, adding that since Indian mothers do not have time and find it convenient to buy online, the company is following the omni-channel approach.

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