Dear Shareholder Family,
I am thrilled to share this report highlighting the progress
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited has made in FY 2023-24, advancing not only our core
growth objectives but also our 2025 Sustainability & Social Impact Strategy.
At our core, is the mission to improve the oral health of everyone in
India. This is both our fundamental responsibility and a tremendous privilege. This year,
we have made significant strides in this journey, including the launch of our 'Brush at
Night' initiative and continued focus on our flagship program, Colgate Bright Smiles,
Bright Futures?. Our commitment remains strong to bringing science backed superior
products to consumers across our core, premium, and therapeutic portfolios.
While we do this, we also have a responsibility and commitment to
building a sustainable world. We remain resolute in our commitment to enrich lives, foster
sustainability, and propel positive change.
We have made substantial progress towards our goals on energy &
emissions, water neutrality, and zero waste to landfill for our manufacturing operations
in India.
Our commitment to fostering a safe, healthy, diverse and inclusive work
environment for our people remains steadfast. In line with our commitment to giving back
to society, we continue to positively impact lives through our Colgate Bright Smiles,
Bright Futures? program, instilling oral care habits amongst children
and several other initiatives geared towards championing education, women empowerment, and
sustainable water management.
Grow, Strengthen, Simplify
The simple mantra of Grow, Strengthen, Simplify underpinned our actions
in FY 2023-24
Grow: This year we delivered a significant step up in our growth
trajectory. Our domestic growth of 9.5% and 26.4% PAT and EBITDA margins of 33.7% which
are the highest ever. This was driven by unrelenting focus on our 4 strategic pillars of
Growing the core while driving category consumption, driving premiumisation in Toothpaste,
winning in Toothbrush and devices and finally building the inherent strengths of
Palmolive.
Colgate Strong Teeth, Colgate Active Salt and Colgate Total were
re-launched with superior, science backed formula. MaxFresh was relaunched with the
proprietary UltraFreeze technology, supported by the 'Neend Bhagao, Taazgi Jagao'
campaign. We enhanced Colgate Visible White O2 with superior flavour and whitening
technology and revitalized the Zig Zag toothbrush range, making it our fastest-growing
core brand. Elevating oral beauty regimen, we launched the Visible White Teeth Whitening
Pen, an efficacious at-home solution that brightens your smile while you sleep.
Additionally, we introduced new, exotic variants in the Palmolive body
wash portfolio with unique fragrances. A really high decibel year from an innovation
perspective.
Recognizing a pivotal consumer insight* that people indulge in sweets
after dinner but forget to brush before bedtime, we launched 'The Sweet Truth' campaign.
This successful campaign, timed with the festive season, raised awareness about the
importance of night-time brushing and won several prestigious awards.
Strengthen: Through the year we strengthened the already exceptionally
strong Colgate brand with awareness and consideration reaching 67% (+600 bps) and 68%
(+500 bps) both by far the highest in the category. Oral Care Expert also increased by 500
bps to 78% again the highest in the category, and Colgate continues to be the single most
penetrated FMCG brand in the country**.
Through the year we have also doubled down on our sustainability
commitment.
We have made significant strides in environmental sustainability. Three
of our plants have attained net water positivity, and renewable energy accounts for 18% of
our energy mix. 50% of our Toothpaste tubes are in recyclable packaging using the
technology developed by Colgate and we are on track to exit FY 2024-25 with 100%
recyclability.
And in line with our mission, the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright
Futures? (BSBF) program went from strength to strength, reaching over 5.2 million
children across 10,000+ schools in over 150 cities and towns inculcating oral care habits
and awareness about tobacco prevention and good nutrition.
Simplify: Through the year a slew of measures have been taken to reduce
complexity, notable among these are using Machine Learning (ML) for demand forecasting,
increasing robotization in plants,
AI led planogramming in self service stores and maximizing Advertising
ROI through a robust Market Mix modeling.
As we look back at the year, we feel a sense of pride in the progress
we have made coupled with a sense of optimism of what is yet to come. I extend my
heartfelt gratitude to my fellow employees at Colgate India, the board of Colgate India,
the global Colgate team that supports us every day, our shareholders and most importantly
the consumers in India for putting their trust in us everyday. We step into FY 2024-25
with significant resolve and a smile on our faces.
Best Wishes,
| Prabha Narasimhan |
| Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer |
| DIN:08822860 |