Type Industry Founded Headquarters Key people Products

Public FMCG 1969 Ahmedabad Karsanbhai Patel (CMD) Nirma detergent, Nima soaps Rs. 3350 crores (2009 standalone)

Revenue Rs. 4898.71 crores (2009 consolidated) Employees Website 14000 www.nirma.co.in

Nirma is a group of companies based in the city of Ahmedabad in western India that manufactures products ranging from cosmetics, soaps, detergents, salt, soda ash, LAB and Injectibles. Karsanbhai Patel, a well known entrepreneur and philanthropist of Gujarat, started Nirma as a one-man operation. Today Nirma has over 15000 employees and a turnover of over Rs. 3550 crores. In 2004, Nirma's detergent approached 800,000 tonnes one of the largest volumes sold in the world under a single brand 'NIRMA'.

] Major plants
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Soda Ash Linear Alkyl Benzene Packaging Soaps Detergents Edible & Industrial Salt Alpha Olefin Sulfonate Sulfuric Acid Glycerin Single Super Phosphate Infusions Injectibles Critical Care Products Medical Disposables

Overview

Starting as a one-product, one-man outfit from a 100 sq.ft room in 1969, Nirma became a very successful company within three decades. The company had multi-locational manufacturing facilities, and a broad product portfolio under an umbrella brand Nirma. The company's mission to provide, "Better Products, Better Value, Better Living" contributed a great deal to its success. Nirma successfully countered competition from HLL and carved a niche for itself in the lowerend of the detergents and toilet soap market. The brand name became almost synonymous with low-priced detergents and toilet soaps. However, Nirma realized that it would have to launch products for the upper end of the market to retain its middle class consumers who would graduate to the upper end. The company launched toilet soaps for the premium segment. However, analysts felt that Nirma would not be able to repeat its success story in the premium segment. In 2000, Nirma had a 15% share in the toilet soap segment and more than 30% share in the detergent market. Aided by growth in volumes and commissioning of backward integration projects, Nirma's turnover for the year ended March 2000 increased by 17% over the previous fiscal, to Rs. 12.17 bn.

History
In 1969, Karsanbhai Patel (Patel)[2] , a chemist at the Gujarat Government's Department of Mining and Geology manufactured phosphate free Synthetic Detergent Powder, and started selling it locally. The new yellow powder was priced at Rs. 3.50 per kg, at a time when HLL's Surf was priced at Rs 15. Soon, there was a huge demand for Nirma in Ruppur (Gujarat), Patel's hometown. He started packing the formulation in a 10x10ft room in his house. Patel named the powder as Nirma, after his daughter Nirupama. Patel was able to sell about 15-20 packets a day on his way to the office on bicycle, some 15 km away. By 1985, Nirma washing powder had become one of the most popular, household detergents in many parts of the country. By 1999, Nirma was a major consumer brand offering a range of detergents, soaps and personal care products. In keeping with its philosophy of providing quality products at the best possible prices, Nirma brought in the latest technology for its manufacturing facilities at six locations[3] in India. Nirma's success in the highly competitive soap and detergent market was attributed to its brand promotion efforts, which was complemented by its distribution reach and market penetration. Nirma's network consisted of about 400 distributors and over 2 million retail outlets across the country. This huge network enabled Nirma to make its products available to the smallest village. In November, 2007, Nirma purchased the American raw materials company Searles Valley Minerals Inc. - making it among Top-7 Soda Ash manufacturer in the world.[

Nirma is a customer-focused company committed to consistently offer better quality products and services that maximise value to the customer. This customer-centric philosophy has been well emphasised at Nirma through:
      

Continuously exploring & developing new products & processes. Laying emphasis on cost effectiveness. Maintaining effective Quality Management System. Complying with safety, environment and social obligations. Imparting training to all involved on a continuous basis. Teamwork and active participation all around. Demonstrating belongingness and exemplary behaviour towards organisation, its goals and objectives.

Major Plants

Soda Ash ::... Investment of Rs. 1,140 crores Capacity  650,000 TPA  770 m3/hr capacity Sea Water RODM plant  40 MW Captive cogeneration plant  10,000 MT solid handling Energy efficient technology from AKZO, Netherlands Only Soda Ash plant in the world with full DCS controls ICMA award for Best Total Water Management Practices in Chemical Industry Category Linear Alkyl Benzene ::...

Investment of Rs. 630 crores 75,000 TPA capacity Only second plant in the world with Eco-friendly Non HF technology from UOP, USA Bio-degradable product 70 km of integrated pipeline network for feed stock 8,00,000 TPA of Feed Stock 32% market share DCS controlled fully automatic plant Packaging ::... Full range of Packaging facilities  13,500 TPA of packaging material  7,200 TPA of Poly Ethylene film manufacturing  6,000 TPA Paper Wrapper printing  6,000 TPA Laminated Wrappers & Pouch manufacturing  3,600 TPA of Stiffner Boards Poly Coating and Slitting  14,000 TPA Craft Paper manufacturing  12,000 TPA Corrugated Box manufacturing State of art production facilities y 8 colour printing from Cerruti Spa, Italy y 2 lines of 3 - Layer Extrusion Plant from Reifenhauser, Germany y Automatic Control from Prestech, U.K. and Eltromet, Germany

Soaps ::...

Investment of Rs. 200 Crores 30,00,000 Soap pieces sold per day Annual sales of Rs. 500 crore 20% market share Second largest soap manufacturer in India Four lines of 500 soaps per minute Detergents ::... 50,00,000 pieces sold per day 38% market share Largest Detergent manufacturer of India

Edible Salt ::... Asias largest salt works Spread over 30,000 acres Edible salt capacity of 288,000 tpa Edible vacuum evaporated salt plant with y Technology from akzo nobel, netherlands y Tripple effect monel cladded evaporator y Fluidized bed dryer Human contact free process from water to packaging Industrial Salt ::... Asias largest salt works Spread over 30,000 acres Industrial salt capacity of 15,00,000 tpa

Others ::...

AOS ( Alfa Olefin Sulfonate ) Sulfuric Acid Glycerin SSP ( Single Super Phosphate ) Nirma is a phenomenon and synonymous with Value for Money. The brand transcends the specific dynamic of any particular product category, which is best captured in its above mission statement - a statement of sustained innovation, an unceasing effort to deliver better value to consumers, through better product quality.

Consumer Products Soaps Detergents Edible Salt Scouring Products Soaps Detertents

Salt

Industrial Products

        

LAB ( Linear Alkyl Benzene ) AOS ( Alfa Olefin Sulfonate ) Sulfuric Acid Glycerin Soda Ash Pure salt Vacuum Evaporated Iodized Salt SSP ( Single Super Phosphate ) Sodium Silicate

Nirma Limited markets its products through its fully owned subsidiary Nirma Consumer Care Limited (NCCL), which was incepted in 1985. NCCL in turn resells these products in the market under the umbrella brands NIRMA and NIMA along with extensions. The distribution strength of Nirma is based on mutually rewarding and satisfying relationship. Nirma pioneered the concept of flat distribution network. Nirma Consumer Care Limited operates with two parallel distribution networks. The NIRMA brand is marketed through the first network, which consists of about 450 exclusive distributors. It is one of the lowest cost FMCG distribution channels of the country. Principal Channel [Nirma Products]:
  

Lowest Cost system in India Speed in distribution Flexibility

The NIMA range of products is marketed through a parallel marketing network that comprises of more than 2000 distributors. Parallel Channel [Nima Products]:
   

Wider Reach Speedy Market Intelligence Competitive edge & Better focus Complementing Principal Channel

All NIRMA and NIMA range of products have a retail reach of over two million retail outlets and more than 40 million loyal consumers spread all over the country. The Company has been successful in establishing an extremely good urban as well as rural presence through the two distribution channels. The distribution channels have played a significant role in making Nirma a household name. The efficient network has made Nirma Washing Powder and Nirma Detergent Cake, the brands with highest penetration in the respective product categories in the market. The network is well equipped to meet the demands of the loyal consumers of the Company across the country. The robust network ensures the availability of various products at different retail outlets across the nation. The Distribution channel is geared up to enhance trade relations, build up the retailer base by providing various benefits and incentives, organize and implement different activities to generate sales and manage numerous other

Channel Partners Reach Join Us programmes, schemes and activities concentrated towards business development.