Are acquisitions the way to grow for the Godrej group?
Definitely. We think our group sales compounded annually should grow at about 25-30% over the next five years. And organically we can achieve about 15-20% sales growth. The rest will accrue from acquisitions. We prefer them in India. But acquisitions in India are not easy. In some industries there are a lot of local acquisitions in play. For example in cement & telecom sectors, M&As are taking place. In consumer products there’s very little. In the past two years we made only two acquisitions in India — one is Nutrine (India’s largest hardboiled candy business)and then Sara Lee Household and Bottle Care in July last year. Godrej Consumer Care has been aggressive in growing its share in soaps. In fact, you have outpaced the industry. How did you do it? In soaps our key differentiator is quality. We have high quality products that are very reasonably priced. Our “Number One” soap is the third-highest selling brand in the country after Lifebuoy and Lux. It is biggest selling Grade One so
