Nobel Hygiene is one of the leading disposable hygiene care products manufacturer in the country. Nobel Hygiene, established in 2000, introduced adult diapers in the Indian market, and over the years has continuously innovated to create world-class hygiene products for adults under the brand name ‘Friends’ and baby care products under the brand name ‘Teddyy’. Mommy & Baby Times (MBT) had a detailed interaction with Mr. Kamal Johari, Founder of Nobel Hygiene, regarding the presence of the company, its in-house brands and the manufacturing capacity of the company.
November 11, 2019
MBT: It’s been eighteen years since the foundation stone of your brand was laid which is an incredible milestone; please take us through the business journey and a brief history of Nobel Hygiene Products.
Kamal Johari: Nobel Hygiene was pioneered in 1999, and the initial business of the company was to import products from other countries. By 2009, we decided to start manufacturing diapers to enforce high quality standards instead of relying on suppliers. Nobel Hygiene introduced adult diapers to the Indian market, and over the years has continuously innovated to create world-class hygiene products for adults under the brand name ‘Friends’ and has a vast product range of baby care products under the brand name ‘Teddyy’ and ‘Snuggy’. Currently, Nobel Hygiene has a pan India presence and is a leading manufacturer of disposable hygiene care products. Apart from manufacturing its own labels, Nobel Hygiene also manufactures diapers for private label requirements and also exports to countries like Australia, Malaysia, UAE and parts of Africa, etc.
MBT: Kindly brief us up about the product range of your company.
KJ: Nobel Hygiene is one of the leading disposable hygiene care products manufacturer in the country with an ISO 9001:2015 and CE certification, headquartered in Mumbai. We have developed our products with the best quality of raw materials available across the world to provide maximum protection to adults and babies. The adult disposable diaper brand ‘Friends’, is the undisputed leader amongst all adult diaper brands, and is made adhering to the highest product quality standards.
‘Teddyy’ baby diaper is the largest Indian baby diaper brand. These baby diapers are specially designed keeping in mind the Indian baby body structure and Indian weather conditions. They are carefully shaped for the best fit and comfort, offering freedom of movement with optimum absorption capacity. ‘Snuggy’ baby diaper was acquired by Nobel Hygiene from Godrej in 2018. It is India’s first baby diaper brand, which is synonymous with ‘Indian Diaper’. The brand has a very strong goodwill and Nobel Hygiene hopes to bring the brand name justice.
“Nobel Hygiene introduced adult diapers to the Indian market,… has continuously innovated to create world-class hygiene products for adults under the brand name ‘Friends’ and has a vast product range of baby care products under the brand name ‘Teddyy’ and ‘Snuggy’.”
MBT: Nobel Hygiene recently acquired the rights of Snuggy that earlier belonged to Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL), would you please elaborate?
KJ: The Snuggy acquisition fit well in our product portfolio and our competence in being India’s premium disposable manufacturing. This acquisition marks a full circle for me, as the inspiration to enter the disposable care market, came from a brief stint distributing Snuggy diapers, even before the brand was sold to GCPL in the year 2003.
MBT: Could you please share details about the market reach of Teddyy products?
KJ: Teddyy is the largest Indian/homegrown baby diaper brand. According to a market research report by Euromonitor International published in March 2018, Teddyy is at about 5% market share.
MBT: Considering the fact that there are numerous International companies that have presence in the Indian market which have a similar product line, what do you think are the factors that give an edge to Nobel hygiene Products?
KJ: We believe in good quality and deliver the same, which is one prominent reason why we are highly invested in having an efficient R&D base. A lot of thought goes into making our diapers a perfect fit for Indian consumers and is Indian climate compatible. The continuous R&D from designing our diapers to machine design and all the rapid improvements which we continuously carry out has given confidence to both our consumers as well as our sales team. Being a long standing brand against three multinational brands would not have been possible had we compromised on quality and not focused on R&D in a consistent way.
“Nobel Hygiene has a pan India presence through a number of appointed super-stockists and stockists catering to all the markets online and offline… the company has a very strong presence in all the metros, Tier I and Tier II towns.”
MBT: What are your go-to market and distribution strategies that the brand adopts before entering the market with a particular product/product-range?
KJ: Currently, Nobel Hygiene has a pan India presence through a number of appointed super-stockists and stockists catering to all the markets online and offline. Backed by a dedicated professional work force, the company has a very strong presence in all the metros, Tier I and Tier II towns.
MBT: How do you think the participation in B2B exhibitions helps a company in strengthening its brand name in the market?
KJ: B2B exhibitions aid in bringing us closer to our customers and our industry peers. It also gives us a great platform to understand the industry innovations, trends and helps us in looking out to explore more.
MBT: How do you foresee the growth of Indian diaper manufacturing industry 5- 10 years from now?
KJ: There are immense growth opportunities in the Indian diaper industry. The diaper manufacturing industry in the domestic market is building up consistently and as we see, it will continue to grow at a CAGR of around 26-28% for the next decade and a half.
