Dabur India Limited

Established in 1884 by S K Burman, Dabur India is the fourth largest FMCG company in India with business interests in Healthcare, Personal Care and Food Products. Over the years, Dabur India has focused in manufacturing and selling Ayurvedic products targeted at the mass consumer segments. A number of personal care products, Ayurvedic tonic and oral care products that Dabur launched between 1940 and 1970 are leading brands today. Dabur top nine brands had 65% or more market share in their respective products categories. These included the health tonic Chyawanprash, Hajmola digestive tablets and candy, digestive Pudin Hara, Dabur Lal Dant Manjan and Dabur Amla hair oil.
Dabur manufactures over 450 products, covering a wide range in health and personal care. Dabur India has 10 manufacturing locations- seven in India and one each in Nepal, Egypt and UK. The subsidiaries of Dabur are- Dabur Foods, Dabur Nepal, Dabur Oncology, Dabur Pharma, Dabur Egypt and Dabur Balsara. Daburs R&D is carried out by Dabur Research Foundation.

Background:
Dabur was set up in West Bengal as a proprietary firm for manufacturing of Ayurvedic drugs. It started off with a direct mailing system to send medicines to villages in Bengal. In 1986, Dr Burman set up a small manufacturing plant at Garhia near Calcutta for mass production of chemicals and Ayurvedic drugs. In 1919, Dabur set up its R&D laboratory for Ayurvedic medicines. In 1940, company diversified into personal care products business with the launch of its Dabur Amla Hair Oil. In 1949, Dabur launched Chyawanprash in a tin pack making it the first branded Chyawanprash in a tin pack in the country. It expanded its personal care portfolio by adding oral care products in 1970. Dabur Lal Dant was the first product to be launched. In 1972, Dabur shifted its base to Delhi from Calcutta.
In 1990 it set up branch office and warehousing operations in London to service European market. In 1991, it set up Dabur Overseas Ltd. In Cayman Island to cater its overseas investment needs. In 1992, Dabur entered into 49:51 joint ventures with the Spanish confectionary major Agrolimen group under the name General De Confecteria India Ltd (GCI). In the same year Dabur entered into a basic joint venture named Excelcia Foods with Nestle.
Dabur came out with its IPO in November 1993 raising Rs. 541.5 million at Rs. 95 per share (it was oversubscribed by 21 times). In 1998 Dabur entered into 50:50 joint venture with Bongrain of France and named it Dabon International Ltd and started manufacturing cheese products in Noida.
In 1999, it existed from two joint ventures in Excelcia Foods with Nestle and General Confectionary Ltd with Agrolimen. In 2001, Dabur set up a manufacturing facility in UK for oncology injectibles at an investment of $15 million.

Business Segments:
Dabur has three business divisions- Family Products Division (FPD), Healthcare Products Division and Dabur Ayurvedic Specialities Division (DAS). FPD has products across categories of hair care, oral care, skin care, coconut oil and honey. It contributes 45% to total sales. Dabur has a 27% share in the hair oil market. Dabur has also made significant inroads in shampoos establishing a niche in herbal shampoos with its Vatika franchise. Lal Dant Manjan has a market share of 67% in red tooth powder category. Overall in toothpowder it has 30% market share. Dabur has 40% market share in honey market. In coconut market it has 3% market share.
In Health Care Products divisions Dabur is the second largest division and contributes 28% to the sales turnover of the company. Dabur leads the Chyawanprash market with 64% share. Dabur holds 37% market share in digestive systems with Hajmola, Pudin Hara and Hingoli.
The Ayurvedic Division has a range of more than 400 medicines both classical Ayurvedic drugs and proprietary medicines developed by Dabur. It contributes 7% to the company’s sales. The focus of this division is to target Ayurvedic practioners through separate sales force as well as push OTC sales. Asav-arishtas form about 40% of the divisions turnover.
The pharmaceutical division derives more than 30% of its sales from oncology and it is the market leader in oncology market. By launching anti-cancer drug, Vinorelbine, dabur has become the first company in India to have done so. Dabur Foods enjoys a 55% market share in juice market. Its portfolio includes homemade cooking pastes,Lemonees lemon juice and Real Fruit Juice. Real is the flagship brand contributing a majority of the turnover of Dabur Foods