Gillette to focus on oral care business

Male grooming products maker Gillette India on Monday said it would aggressively focus on oral care business, leveraging the huge market size and would continue with the alkaline battery business in India.

"We will turn our attention on our oral care business in the country as the Indian toothbrush market is the second-biggest in the world and carry on selling alkaline battery as the niche market is growing," Gillette India Managing Director Zubair Ahmed said.

The oral care division of the Indian unit of the US shaving system major grew 44 per cent last year, he said, launching male shaving system 'Mach3Turbo'.

The company, which acquired the 'Geep' battery brand in 2000, exited the business in late 2002 but continued selling alkaline battery under 'Duracell' brandname. With the discontinuation of 'Geep', Gillette India also stopped manufacturing 'Duracell' batteries in the country.

"We started selling 'Duracell' batteries along with 'Geep'. However, the 'Geep' business did not make sense and we decided to divest," Ahmed said.

With the divestment of the 'Geep' business, the company also discontinued production of 'Duracell' batteries in India.

Now, the company imports the alkaline batteries from Europe.