Jyothy Labs eyes 12-14 per cent top line growth in FY19 on rural demand

"The industry should grow by 10-12 per cent and we should be doing slightly better than the industry. We are expecting a top line growth of 12-14 per cent this fiscal," Jyothy Laboratories joint managing director Ullas Kamath told PTI.

For the fiscal year 2017-18, the company had reported a revenue of over Rs 1,800 crore.

"Rural has picked up because of minimum support price and some social sector investment done by government. Also, a good monsoon is expected which will add to the demand. Overall in the last quarter we have seen rural is more or less normal but the growth in the current year should be more in rural market than urban market. Of the overall growth, I see 60 per cent coming from rural and 40 per cent from urban," he said.

Rural currently contributes around 40 per cent of the company's revenue.

Kamath further said the benefit due to GST, ease of doing business, management of better working capital and extending a little more margin to the trade has helped in lowering the cost, which would also help in boosting growth.

The company that makes fabric whitener Ujala and Margo soap, among others, said it will be consolidating its portfolio but will look at brand extensions for Margo and its mosquito repellent brand Maxo.

With ayurveda products gaining momentum over the last few years, it is betting big on Margo and Neem toothpaste and is expecting a revenue of Rs 500 crore in the next three years from these brands.

"In our business, Margo and Neem are the two products in natural and ayurveda. We want to make an ayurveda portfolio of Margo and Neem toothpaste together and we want to be at least Rs 500 crore by 2021. Our business from Margo and Neem together right now is around Rs 200 crore, so we want to make it 2.5 times in next three years," he said adding that it would be looking at adjacencies in personal category for Neem and Margo.

The city-based company entered the toilet cleaning segment with its brand T-Shine in Kerala and plans to take it pan-India in the next three years.

"We will not be getting into new a category other than T-Shine. It was launched four months back and we have got 4 per cent market share (in the state). We will be there in Kerala till we get 10 per cent market share and then go to neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, gain 10 per cent market share (there) and then go all India," he said.

Kamath added that the company would be looking at at least 25 per cent market share in the next 5-6 years in the segment.