Brands
Colgate ups ad spend by 22 per cent during Q3-2014
BENGALURU: Consumer products major and one of the largest advertisers in its segment in the country, Colgate-Palmolive (India) spent 21.64 per cent more towards advertising expense during Q3-2014 at Rs 121.46 crore as compared to the Rs 99.85 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. Also, its Q3-2014 ad spend was 1.67 per cent higher than the Rs 119.47 crore during the immediate trailing quarter.
During the nine month period ended December 31, 2013, Colgate spent Rs 343.32 crore towards advertising. This ad spend was 25.99 per cent higher than the Rs 272.49 crore the company spent during the corresponding nine month period of last fiscal. During FY 2013, the company spent Rs 354.59 crore towards advertising.
Colgate’s revenue for Q3-2014 at Rs 891.11 crore was 13.7 per cent higher than the Rs 783.77 crore during Q3-2013, but 1.07 per cent lower than the Rs 900.73 crore during the immediate preceding quarter. Revenue during the nine month period ended December 31, 2013 at Rs 2651.53 crore was 13.69 per cent more than the Rs 232.28 crore during the corresponding period of last year. Colgate’s revenue for FY 2013 was Rs 3163.81 crore.
Ad spends as percentage of total revenue during the various periods were: 13.63 per cent in Q3-2014; 12.74 per cent in Q3-2013; 13.26 per cent in Q2-2014; 12.95 per cent for the nine month period ended December 31, 2013; 11.68 per cent for the nine month period ended December 31, 2012 and 11.21 per cent of the total revenue during FY 2013.
Colgate’s PAT for Q3-2014 at Rs 112.83 crore was 1.6 per cent higher than the Rs 111.05 crore during Q3-2013 and 3.02 per cent higher than the Rs 109.52 crore during Q2-2014. Colgate had paid a First Interim Dividend of Rs 122.39 crore (Rs 9 per share having face value of Re 1) in November 2013 and Second Interim Dividend of Rs 122.39 crore (Rs 9 per share having face value of Re 1) in December 2013.
Some of Colgate’s major brands include its oral care brand Colgate; personal care brand Palmolive and household care brand Axion.
Brands
Practo names Cijo George as vice president of artificial intelligence
New vice president of artificial intelligence to mine healthcare data and sharpen care delivery
BENGALURU: India’s healthtech race just picked up speed. Practo has appointed Cijo George as vice president of artificial intelligence, tasking him with wiring AI deep into the company’s sprawling healthcare platform.
George will steer AI strategy and execution, embedding machine intelligence across care navigation, doctor-facing tools and overall platform intelligence. He will work across product, engineering and clinical teams to rewire how patients search for and access care — and how doctors deliver treatment with greater consistency and precision.
He reports directly to Shashank ND, co-founder and chief executive officer.
Shashank ND said years of building healthcare data across patients, providers and treatment outcomes had laid the foundation for more advanced AI applications. Artificial intelligence, he added, can unlock the value of that data to improve patient outcomes and equip doctors with actionable insights. He described George’s experience in building production-grade AI systems as closely aligned with Practo’s long-term vision.
George brings nearly two decades of experience spanning machine learning, AI platforms and product engineering. Most recently at Observe.AI, he led work on large-scale AI systems deployed by global enterprises. Before that, at Belong.co, he drove platform and AI initiatives focused on search and personalisation in the HR technology space. He also worked with the Advanced Technology Group at NetApp, contributing to machine-learning and data-science projects for distributed systems.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science with a master’s degree in high performance computing, George said the chance to apply AI to directly improve patient experience and clinical delivery drew him to the role. Practo’s scale and its extensive longitudinal healthcare data, he added, offer significant room for innovation.
The move comes as digital health platforms double down on artificial intelligence to boost patient engagement, streamline provider workflows and sharpen decision-making. For Practo, the prescription is clear: turn data into diagnosis, and algorithms into advantage.
