A NEW NORMAL
Alcoholic beverage-maker Diageo India has announced that it would be making hand sanitisers as part of its pledge to fight the deadly Covid-19 virus. The company’s Chief Strategy and Corporate Officer, Abanti Sankaranarayanan, in a LinkedIn post, says, “Five days ago, we at Diageo India didn’t know anything about producing hand sanitisers. Between yesterday and today, thanks to the tireless efforts of about 50 people in Diageo India, we produced the first batch of hand sanitiser packs at our Goa, Assam, Aurangabad and Hyderabad manufacturing units, as part of our pledge to produce over 300,000 litres of bulk hand sanitisers for public healthcare workers on the frontline.” While one isn’t sure whether Diageo would be looking at the hand-wash category as a long-term business proposition, hand sanitisers and handwash products have emerged as FMCG’s new hero categories.
Once considered elitist and modern-trade categories, in the past month, hand sanitisers have become an essential part of a consumer’s grocery basket. A recent Nielsen report says that the demand for handwash and sanitisers between February and March has gone up by an enormous 1,425 per cent.
The overall FMCG industry, which had been reeling under the
