He named it after his daughter: Nirma.
Sold at just ₹3/kg (vs Surf’s ₹13/kg), it became India’s detergent of the masses.
📈 By the 1990s, Nirma held nearly 40% of India’s detergent market – beating HUL's Surf in volume sales.
Its jingle? Still iconic:
“Doodh si safedi Nirma se aaye…” 🎶
But as India’s middle class evolved, Nirma didn’t.
🔹 No major product innovation
🔹 Stuck to price-focused branding
🔹 Perceived as “cheap” rather than “value”
HUL fought back hard.
They did a market research and found Nirma's inherent issues - no fragrance, not much good at hands.
They worked on these flaws and launched Wheel – a low-cost detergent designed only to reclaim lost ground in the mass segment.
Today, Wheel is India’s #1 detergent brand by volume.
Once a favourite of JAYA, SUSHMA, HEMA, and REKHA, Nirma lost a massive share and is now at ~4% market share in the detergent market.
Marketing lesson?
Disruption wins markets. But reinvention keeps them. Never be complacent.
BrandStrategy MarketingLessons FMCG Nirma HUL IndiaBusiness Disruption ConsumerBehavior LinkedInCreators
This post was originally shared by on Linkedin.