KOZHIKODE: At a time when Chinese imports, from safety pins to mobile phones, dominate the Indian consumer market, a state-owned soap manufacturing company is gearing up to export its products to the East Asian nation.Kerala Soaps will soon start exporting its wide range of products to China after a distributor in that country expressed interest in them. It is learnt from reliable sources the company had sent some samples to the distributor a month ago.
Febi Varghese, managing director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises, which runs Kerala Soaps, confirmed the deal was on and the first consignment would be shipped before Onam. It has come as a major breakthrough for Kerala Soaps as the Public Sector Undertaking has been striving hard to make profit. The company has been looking to make its strong presence in a highly-competitive market dominated by multinational companies. “We don’t have much capital to spend on advertisements,” said the company’s officers.
Indulekha, a fast-moving brand, was manufactured by Kerala Soaps for Masons Group. The latter sold the brand to a multinational group for a whopping R330 crore. Last fiscal, Kerala Soaps sold products worth R10 crore, yet could not break even.Varghese said the company could become profitable this year only if it could achieve a turnover of R12 crore.