Dettol close to becoming Rs 1,000 cr brand

FMCG major Reckitt Benkiser on Friday said its flagship product Dettol is 'very close' to becoming a Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) brand.

Qouting an AC Nielsen study, Reckitt Benkiser chairman and managing director Chander Mohan Sethi said the brand right now is around Rs 900 crore (Rs 9 billion).

"We are very close to achieving our target of Rs 1,000 crore brand (Rs 10 billion). It might have already reached also," he said but declined to provide further details on it. According to the industry experts, if the company is able to achieve Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) sales from Dettol in the current year, it would become the second company after Hindustan Uniliver to achieve the milestone.

Currently, HUL's detergent brand 'Wheel' with sales of over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) remains the top selling FMCG brand in the country.

Sethi said the company is facing pressure due to the surge in the commodities prices but has not passed it on to the consumer yet.

"Certainly, we are facing pressure but we have not increased any prices and we have not decided yet whether to hike prices of our products in future," Sethi said.

In the wake of the outbreak of swine flu, the company has increased focus on distribution and on making its products available on modern trade and large format stores.

He declined to comment on how much the company's sales had surged due the sudden increase in demand for hygiene products because of the disease.