Coronavirus pandemic has forced the the government to cap the maximum retail price of hand sanitisers. In response, FMCG companies have slashed prices by almost 55 percent.
On March 21, the government capped the maximum retail price of hand sanitizer at Rs 100 per 200ml bottle till June 30, 2020, after a sharp rise in the prices owing to the coronavirus outbreak.
Hindustan Unilever was the first FMCG company to announce reduction in sanitiser prices. The FMCG major, on March 20, announced that it is reducing the prices of Lifebuoy sanitizers, Lifebuoy Liquid handwash and Domex floor cleaners by 15 percent.
Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL, said, "In crisis like this Companies have a big role to play. We are working closely with the Governments and our partners to ensure that we overcome this global health crisis together.”
“We are commencing production of these reduced priced products immediately and these will be available in the market in the next few weeks," Mehta said in a company statement.
Joining the bandwagon, other FMCG companies such as ITC, RB India (Reckitt Benckiser), Dabur, Himalaya and Godrej Consumer Products have also cut down the prices of sanitisers.
ITC has cut the price of a 55ml bottle of hand sanitiser from Rs 77 to Rs 27.
The company said that it has already started manufacturing Savlon sanitisers with the new reduced prices.
“As per the Government order, we have already started manufacturing Savlon sanitisers with the new reduced prices and are working overnight on rushing the new stocks to the market,” it said.
All FMCG companies have ramped up the production of sanitisers and are committed to scaling it up even further in the coming weeks.
“During these challenging times, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure enhanced supply of Savlon range of hygiene products in the market to cater to the surge in demand,” ITC said.
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), which sells hand sanitizers under the brand called Protekt brand, has also already reduced the price.
The price of Godrej pocket sanitizer (50 ml bottle) has been reduced from Rs 75 to Rs 25.
RB India (earlier Reckitt Benckiser), that sells owns popular brand Dettol is also follow government guidelines.
Dabur, which only sells its santisers on e-commerce platforms has also reduced the sanitiser prices.The 500ml pack is now sold for Rs 250 and the 200 ml pack for Rs 100.
“Dabur has already taken steps to adhere to the new pricing regime for hand sanitisers. Dabur Sanitize hand sanitisers are currently sold only through e-commerce channels and we have already reduced prices of our hand sanitisers across all e-commerce platforms by offering discounts to consumers,” Dabur spokesperson told Moneycontrol.
As a result of Coronavirus outbreak in India the demand for sanitisers had gone up significantly and with rising demand, the price of sanitiser shot up multiple times.
Early March, on Amazon, a pack of 4 sanitizer bottles of 50 ml each were sold for Rs 328 instead of Rs 246.
The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic has spread across at least 170 countries. There have been at least 415 reported cases of novel coronavirus in India.
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