Do not see any growth slowdown going ahead: Godrej Consumer

A Mahendran, MD, Godrej Consumer Products does not expect volumes to be under pressure across the three categories that the company focusses on going forward. In fact, he anticipates the company to do very well next year on the rural side as volumes pick up.

Below is an edited transcript of Mahendran's exclusive interview on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the attached video. Q: Are you expecting better volumes going ahead?
A: As far as Godrej Consumer is concerned, we are in three major categories. One is personal wash which is toilet soaps etc. The other is household insecticides with brands like Good Knight and Hit and then the third one is hair color with brands like Godrej Experts.
Now across all the three sectors in the last quarter, volume growth is pretty good. In the case of toilet soaps, our volume grew by about 19% and value wise we grew about 31%. In the case of hair colour, there was pretty decent growth on volume as well as in household insecticide. The quarter went off well. But from the current quarter, the Q4 and the future, we do not see much of a pressure on volume across these three categories. But I think next year, we should do very well on the rural side and the rural volume will also pick up and we will do well on the rural penetration also. Q: We did see some easing of pressure last year as commodity prices eased in end 2011, but now again crude prices are rising. How do you estimate margins in FY13?
A: Out of all the three categories, we had toilet soaps, we had some cost pressure in the last 1.5 years, and thereby the margin was under pressure. However, the market leaders have taken price increase to the consumer in a very consistent manner. So, we are under control as far as margins are concerned. However, the margin has been squeezed as compared to two years back. Going forward, we hope that the cost pressures are kept in line and we should do fairly decent margins on toilet soaps. We don