Santoor becomes Rs 2k-cr brand, Wipro Consumer FY22 turnover at Rs 8,634 cr

Santoor, the sandalwood soap of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL), has become a Rs 2,300 crore plus brand in FY22, its CEO Vineet Agrawal said.

The company, which operates in FMCG and lighting products segment, has reported a revenue of Rs 8,634 crore for the financial year ended on March 31, 2022.

Though the company is concerned about the inflationary pressure but expects business to improve in FY23 as palm oil prices are softening and the price of crude oil going down. Moreover, demand would be helped by a good monsoon and generation of more employment, he said.

While talking about domestic business, Agrawal said: "In India, Santoor continues to do well. It was over Rs 2,300 crore last year and we continue to be the number two brand in terms of soap."

 

It is now the leading brand in five markets of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Even in FY23, "Santor continues to grow well, it should grow at 16 per cent plus in the first quarter."

WCCL has extended the brand Santoor from soaps to body lotion, hand wash and body wash.

Besides its premium personal care brand Yardley, which operates in personal care products such as talc etc grew over 30 per cent last year, beating the pre-pandemic number.

The company, which also owns brands such as SEnchanteur, Hygienix, Chandrika , Glucovita, Safewash , Softouch , Giffy Maxkleen along with LED Lights brand Wipro Garnet and male grooming brand Aramusk, expects "India consumer business will continue to grow, this quarter (April-June) between 16 and 18 per cent."

While sharing info about FY22, Agrawal said: "Last year, we did Rs 8,634 crore and out of that 52 per cent of our business came outside of India and 48 per cent came from India,"

In this around Rs 1,000 crore was contributed from its lighting business, he added.

The company, which has a presence in 20 countries predominantly in India, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, had reported a turnover of Rs 8,400 crore in FY21.

"If I look at outside of India, Malaysia is the biggest for us, it's about one with USD 150 million, China is about USD100 million, Vietnam is a third which is about USD 90 million and the Philippines about USD 70 million. So, these are the four large countries that we have," he added.

While talking about the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, Agrawal said, "This year, for quarter one perspective - Malaysia, Vietnam, Middle East and South Africa, these four countries continue to grow between 16 to 20 per cent. While Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are flattish in growth."

While talking about the lighting business, Agrawal said it is also doing very well, and in the April-June quarter it has "been upwards of 40-50 per cent growth... lighting is growing very well for us."

While talking about Wipro Ventures,

the strategic investment arm, which invests in early to mid-stage companies, Agarwal said it has done seven investments in India.

" And now we are opening up to Southeast Asia also and is currently doing due diligence. And hopefully next quarter we will announce investments," he added.