Wipro - Consumer Care & Lighting

History and Milestones

Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, (WCCLtg) a Business Unit of Wipro Limited, has a profitable presence in the branded retail market of toilet soaps, hair care soaps, baby care products and lighting products. It is also a leader in institutional lighting in specified segments like software, pharma and retail.

Wipro Consumer Care has been one of the fastest growing FMCG companies as reflected by the organizational performance in the last three years. We have grown both organically and through acquisitions.

Our organic growth has been lead by growth in toilet soaps (led by Santoor), domestic and institutional lighting and our recent foray into modular furniture. We have also gained from new launches in fabric wash (Wipro Safewash) and the wellness segment (Wipro Sanjeevini - honey and Isabgol).

Our acquisition strategies are synergistic with the categories that we are in and related categories (not necessarily synergistic with products or brands) where we can leverage our strengths in marketing or distribution. Our acquired brands, Glucovita, a health drink from HLL, and Chandrika toilet soap from the Chandrika family, have also shown excellent growth with new roll outs and brand imagery enhancement.

Organic & Inorganic Growth Strategies

With revenues crossing the Rs.6000 Mn mark in 2005-06, the company’s organic growth strategies are clearly working. Also the acquisitions like Glucovita and Chandrika the company has signalled its’ intent to be a bigger and more aggressive player in FMCG. While Chandrika has helped strengthen presence in ethnic ingredient based soaps, Glucovita has marked the company’s entry into the “Well Being” category. One of the most recent acquisition being NorthWest Switches.

WCCLG’s acquisition strategy is to identify under-marketed brands, on which the company can leverage existing strengths in marketing or distribution.

WCCLG’s other brands include flagship “Santoor” toilet soaps, talcs, face wash and fairness cream, Wipro Baby Soft, Wipro Shikakai, Wipro Safewash among others. Wipro has also entered the Honey and Isabgol Category under the Brand name Sanjeevani.

Current growth is largely organic and spearheaded by growths in flagship Santoor as well growths in Lighting.

This year we re-launched Santoor soap, with new packaging accompanied by a new advertising campaign. The re-launch has been successful in enhancing imagery as well as resulting in volume gains - unlike the current scenario where most other FMCG brand re-launches have higher impact on imagery than on actual volume levels. Santoor’s success is clearly reflected in its leadership status in AP and surging market shares across South and West India.

The group is a second largest player in the baby care products area and is the only company, which has all products for baby care, starting from nipples and bottles to diapers.

The Lighting business has also seen a surge in domestic lighting in Fluorescent tubular lamps and Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) segment. The institutional lighting business is a clear leader in a variety of segments like software, pharma and retail besides having tremendous success in outdoor lighting and energy saving lighting devices.

Mile Stones

1947 - Establishment of an Oil crushing unit at Amalner in Maharashtra
1970 - Manufacture of Hydrogenated cooking (Vanaspati) medium at Amalner
1982 - Introduced Flexi Packs for Hydrogenated cooking medium - a first in India
1986 - Santoor soap launched
1991 - Wipro Lighting established
1991 - Wipro Baby Soft Products launched
1999 - Launch of Wipro Active
2003 - Launch of Wipro Safewash
2003 - Glucovita acquired
2003 - Chandrika Marketing Rights obtained
2004 - Launch of Santoor Facewash and Cream
2005-06 Amongst the fastest growing FMCG companies

Crystal Gazing

We live in exciting times. With change as the only constant. And consistent growth – as the only means to create value for all stakeholders.

WCCLG has always been known for its strengths in:

Manufacturing efficiencies comparable to the Global Best-In-Class.
Use of Six-Sigma tools to constantly understand and improve business processes.
Pan Indian Sales and Distribution Infrastructure – among the top 5 in India.
Strong business and managerial practices.

Strong brands with exceptional value propositions.The task ahead is to build on these strengths to create a future proof organization with a DNA wired for aggressive growth through consumer intimacy.

The WCCLG vision for the future is to be:

Among the top 10 FMCG companies in India
An Employer of choice for the best talent in all functional field

WCCLG has a commitment to creating Business Managers who are capable of understanding the business in its entirety and driving it to the next level ; people who understand the consumer psyche, anticipate need gaps and create products to fill these gaps before anybody else. People who can unlearn as fast as they learn and adapt to new business paradigms without losing momentum. People who have fun while doing all of the above.

Because - we firmly believe- the journey is as important as the destination.