The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A brand new wave for women

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Tuesday, Mar 04, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A brand new wave for women

Special Correspondent

Governor launches six cosmetic products from KSDL

KSDL offers farmers sandalwood saplings
at a discount
It plans to diversify from the sandalwood domain

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Products aplenty: Governor Rameshwar Thakur with V. P. Baligar, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Commerce (centre) and B.H. Anil Kumar, Managing Director of KSDL, at the launch ceremony in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: Karnataka Soaps and Detergent Limited (KSDL) on Monday launched six new cosmetic products in the market.

Governor Rameshwar Thakur, who launched the products at a function at the Banquet Hall of Raj Bhavan, said KSDL was the only soap-making public sector undertaking in the country, and that it had been making profits for the last few years. Despite stiff competition from multinational companies, KSDL has been able to sustain itself because of its high standards of quality and credibility and confidence that it has been able to win from consumers, he said.

The Governor launched Wave (turmeric soap) targeted at women between 18 and 30 years. It is priced at Rs. 14 a bar. Other products launched by the Governor were Wave (herbal liquid hand wash), Mysore Rose Soap, Mysore Sandal Oil, Mysore Sandals Agarbatties and Nutriko (cooking and hair care).

KSDL, which had an accumulated loss of nearly Rs. 100 crore, has made an impressive turnaround. The company is now poised to make a profit of Rs. 6 crore in the current fiscal, Mr. Thakur said.

The company has been facing severe scarcity of procurement of sandalwood. To overcome this problem, it has been encouraging planting of sandalwood saplings under “grow more sandal” scheme. In order to reduce its dependence on sandalwood oil-based products, the company has new diversification plans and launching of new products was a step in the right direction, the Governor said.

B.H. Anil Kumar, Managing Director, KSDL, said farmers have been offered sandalwood saplings at a discounted price.

The company has entered into a strategic tie-up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and India Oil Corporation Limited to market its products at their petrol outlets.

Through this tie-up, the company has access to 75 million homes to satisfy their requirements of toilet soaps, detergents, agarbatties and cosmetics, he said.

Rubber Cooperative Limited (RUBCO) of Kerala has also entered into a tie-up with KSDL for marketing the products of RUBCO across the country, Mr. Kumar said.

V.P. Baligar, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Commerce and Industries Department, welcomed and recalled the history of the company.

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