Competition in India’s toothpaste market has been heating up in the last few months. Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) recently entered the market with the launch of Oral-B Pro-Health, a specially formulated toothpaste for Indians that contains a patented ingredient. [1] Meanwhile, Unilever (NYSE:UL) has been taking on the the market leader Colgate by airing comparative advertisements on Indian television, claiming that its Pepsodent Germicheck toothpaste is 130% better than Colgate. [2] Although Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) has already taken Unilever twice to court, its plea to restrain the latter from resorting to comparative advertising has been declined both times as the court didn’t believe that the ad denigrates Colgate’s toothpaste.

In this article, we talk about the growth opportunity in India’s oral care market, particularly for toothpastes, and analyze how Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive are targeting this market opportunity.