Colgate India steps up premiumisation as oral-care growth finds new bite

MUMBAI: Colgate is looking beyond the brush-and-paste basics. As toothpaste penetration remains high but oral-care consumption stays relatively low in India, Colgate-Palmolive India is betting on two ways to unlock growth getting consumers to brush more often and encouraging existing users to trade up to higher-value products.

Speaking during an analyst interaction, MD and CEO Prabha Narasimhan said premiumisation remains a key focus for the company. Since she took charge nearly four years ago, the premium segment’s contribution to the toothpaste category has climbed from 14.8 per cent to 18.6 per cent. Colgate said its premium toothpaste business is currently growing significantly faster than the broader market.

The strategy is playing out alongside a strong quarter. For the three months ended June 2026, Colgate-Palmolive India’s net sales rose 12 per cent year on year to nearly Rs 1,590 crore, while its toothpaste portfolio recorded high single-digit volume growth.

Premium brands including Colgate Total, Visible White and PerioGard were among the contributors, as the company pushes products positioned around whitening, gum care, preventive oral health and science-backed formulations.

Colgate is also putting more money behind the premium pitch. Advertising and promotional expenditure increased 34 per cent year on year to around Rs 252 crore during the quarter, with greater emphasis on premium product communication, influencer marketing and quick-commerce channels. Management has indicated that it remains open to further investment if it can accelerate growth in higher-value categories.

But the bigger opportunity may lie beyond premiumisation. According to figures cited by Colgate, only around 45 per cent of rural households brush daily, while brushing twice a day remains uncommon even among urban consumers. That leaves considerable headroom for the company to grow the category simply by increasing usage frequency.

Colgate is pairing its commercial strategy with oral-health awareness efforts. Through its Bright Smiles, Bright Futures initiative, the company reached roughly 40,000 government schools across eight states last year, promoting oral hygiene practices and distributing oral-care products.

The company’s growth strategy therefore rests on two tracks: increasing oral-care consumption, particularly in rural markets, and persuading existing toothpaste users to move towards premium products.

Colgate sees further room for this trade-up. Executives have pointed to categories such as soaps and shampoos, where premium products command a much larger share, as evidence that India’s oral-care market could support greater premiumisation.

Digital commerce is also helping that shift. Colgate executives have previously noted that premium oral-care products perform particularly well on e-commerce platforms, where consumers can discover a wider range of products than through traditional retail.

For Colgate, the opportunity is not simply to sell a more expensive tube of toothpaste. It is to make brushing a more frequent habit while making each brush count for a little more.