Key personnel: Nisaba Godrej, executive chairperson; Sudhir Sitapati, managing director and CEO; Aasif Malbari, CFO; Dharnesh Gordhon, business head Africa, USA & Middle East; Rajesh Sethuraman, business head, ASEAN; José Toscano, business head, Latin America; Sumit Mitra, human resources, Godrej Consumer Products Limited; head – group HR and corporate services, Godrej Industries Limited; Vijay Kannan, head – business transformation and digital; Venkateswara Rao Yadlapalli, head – R&D; Robert Menzies, head – category, innovation and strategy; Omar Momin, head – M&A and business development; Divya Narayana Murthy, head – legal, Godrej Consumer Products Limited; group head  legal, Godrej Industries Limited

Major Products: Haircare, home care, personal care. Brands include Goodknight, Cinthol, Hit, Aer, Saniter, Darling, Inecto, Ezee, Genteel, Godrej Expert, Ilicit Color, TCB Naturals, African Pride, Roby, Just for Me, Pamela Grant Beauty, Villeneuve, Stella, Park Avenue (acquisition)

New Products: Goodkinght Agarbatti anti-mosquito incense sticks, Cinthol Foam Bodywash, Stella Electric Diffuser, Godrej Fab liquid detergent

Comments: Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) was recognized by Dun & Bradstreet as ESG Champion of India 2024 in the household and personal products sector. The award recognizes companies for their outstanding environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, and commitment to sustainable development goals.

According to Sudhir Sitapati, managing director and CEO, Godrej has made significant strides in reducing its environmental footprint. Since FY11, it has cut manufacturing emissions in half, reduced water usage by 34%, energy consumption by 37% and plastic packaging by 17%. “We are committed to using renewable energy sources, with 33% of our total energy already coming from renewables and we have goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2035,” Sitapati said.

ESG efforts evident at the product level include Magic handwash in a powder-to-liquid format and Goodknight Gold Flash liquid, which has a 100% biodegradable wick that the company says is 70% cheaper than the imported wick and reduces GCPL’s plastic usage by over 300 tons a year. In 2023, Godrej acquired the FMCG business of Raymond Consumer Care Limited (RCCL), a leading player in the deodorant and sexual wellness categories in India.

Sales: $891 million

Comments: Four countries—India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bangladesh—account for 80% of Godrej Consumer Products Limited’s revenues.

In April, Godrej entered into an agreement to acquire the FMCG business of Raymond Consumer Care Limited, a maker of deodorants and sexual wellness products in India. The deal included trademarks of Park Avenue (in FMCG) and KS, KamaSutra and Premium in sexual wellness.

In February, Godrej released a low-cost liquid mosquito repellent device and a no-gas instant mosquito kill spray in India. Goodknight Mini Liquid and HIT No-Gas Spray are said to make safe and smoke-free mosquito protection accessible for lower income consumers in the country.

Like other big corporations in FMCG, Godrej sees value in supporting start-ups. To that end, in April it announced that it would anchor an early-stage consumer fund set up by Spring Marketing Capital. In addition to the financials, GCPL is also offering expertise and experience to the program.

“In sync with GCPL’s purpose of bringing the goodness of health and beauty to consumers, we are excited to collaborate with new-age companies in the home and personal care and health and wellness space along with Spring Marketing Capital. We intend to leverage our understanding of consumer space and learnings over the last decades to enable early-stage founders focused on building strong offline as well as online presence by offering differentiated products in India,” said Omar Momin, head M&A, GCPL.

In 4Q FY 2023, consolidated sales grew by 10% in INR, led by volume growth of 6%; constant currency growth of 14% year-on-year, the company reported.

“We had a strong end to the year with volume-led double-digit sales growth in 4Q FY 2023. Consolidated sales grew by 10% in INR terms and 14% in constant currency terms,” said Sudhir Sitapati, who is managing director and chief executive officer.

Sales: $1.4 billion

Godrej Consumer Products is a part of the venerable Godrej Group, which has been in operation for nearly 125 years selling home care, personal care and hair care products. The company said its 4Q FY 2021 consolidated sales grew by 27% year-on-year.

Going forward, Godrej says it will continue to focus efforts where the demand is—in household insecticides, hygiene, and products that it tracks under its “Value for Money” sector.

In May, Sudhir Sitapati was selected to serve as the new managing director and CEO of the company. He will serve for a period of five years effective Oct. 18, 2021. At that time, Nisaba Godrej, who is currently the chairperson and managing director, will become executive chairperson.

Sitapati has spent 22 years at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), where he led teams across categories and functions in India, Europe, South East Asia and Africa to create significant value for the business. Hismost recent post at HUL was executive director—foods and refreshments. He was appointed to the HUL management committee as an executive director in 2016, making him one of its youngest ever members. A passionate marketer, he has worked closely on internationally acclaimed purpose-led marketing campaigns for some of HUL’s most iconic brands, including Surf Excel’s “Dirt is Good” and Lifebuoy’s “Have you washed your hands with Lifebuoy?”
As the second wave of COVID-19 hit India, Godrej said it implemented what it learned from the first wave and would be better prepared to navigate any supply chain disruptions.

In 2020, Godrej entered the home cleaning segment by launching Godrej ProClean surface cleaning and disinfecting solutions.

Sales: $745 million

Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) calls itself India’s largest home-grown home and personal care company. By category, hair care accounts for 31% of sales, just ahead of household insecticides (30%). The other major categories are personal wash (17%) and air care (7%). By region, India accounts for 52% of sales, followed by Africa (21%), Indonesia (16%), Latin America (6%) and UK (4%).

The company asserts it ranks among the largest household insecticide and hair care players in emerging markets. It is the No. 1 insecticide marketer in India, No. 2 in Indonesia and expanding its business in Africa. Furthermore, it is the No. 1 player in hair color in India and sub-Saharan Africa with a leading position in Latin America, too. Finally, Godrej holds the No. 2 position in India’s soap market.

Looking ahead, GCPL is determined to build a strong foothold in Africa, just one of the reasons why it purchased the Strength of Nature multicultural hair care brand.