Back Portfolio / Nobel Hygeine
SSIO – III
Nobel Hygiene (Nobel) operates in the $860M Indian diaper industry space which is growing at a robust pace of 15%+. The category penetration remains extremely low in India with baby diapers at 7% and adult diapers at 3% (compared to 25% globally). Diaper as a category is amongst the few consumer categories that ensures frequency along with a long customer lifecycle (average 2 years for baby diapers and 10+ years for adult diapers).
Nobel has been founded by first generation entrepreneur, Kamal Johari, in 1999. He has 25+ years’ experience in the diaper category and has been instrumental in creating the adult diaper category in the country. Nobel dominates the adult diaper market with a ~50% market share with its brand – “Friends” and has sustained its leadership position in the segment for the last 12years. Further, the baby diaper segment which is dominated by MNCs (80%+ share) offers a huge opportunity for a home-grown domestic player. India has the world’s largest baby population at 26M babies per year, but the category penetration is at 7%. Nobel has leveraged its distribution and strong product know-how (from the adult diaper segment), to become the 4th largest player in the baby diaper segment with brands – Teddy and Snuggy.
“We are delighted that Sixth Sense Ventures have chosen to place their trust with us and we look forward to growing together with their team and Nikhil Vora. Being one of the finest analytical minds of the country, we were impressed with the speed with which he understood the business’ complexities, and took the decision to invest. With the per capita income of Indians climbing towards $3000, we expect a substantial jump in discretionary spends by Indians, which will result in substantial growth in the hygiene market also. With our current expansion in Halol (Gujarat), in conjunction with a slew of hires made in our leadership team, we are rightly placed to take advantage of this market expansion.”
Kamal Johari