You will now have to shell out more to keep away household insects and

RELATED ARTICLES Reckitt expects India to be largest mkt in 3-5 yrs in revenue

pests. Leading household insecticide manufacturers like SC Johnson, Reckitt Benckiser and Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) have hiked prices of their products by 5-10 per cent to prevent further erosion in their profit margins.

GCPL, the market leader in household insecticides with brands like ‘Goodknight’ and ‘Hit’, has hiked prices by around 5-6 per cent. This is the first time this year that the company has taken a price hike in the insecticide segment.

“The price hike in the household insecticide category is due to increasing raw material costs,” said Tarun Arora, executive vice president- marketing, GCPL. As of end-March 2011, the company claims to have a 39.7 per cent share by value of the household insecticides market.

SC Johnson, the maker of brands such as ‘AllOut’ and ‘Baygon’, has increased prices of its popular insecticide brand AllOut by 10 per cent, said retailers and industry officials. Despite repeated attempts, company officials could not be reached for comment.

Reckitt Benkiser has also hiked prices of its insecticide brands such as ‘Mortein’ by 10 per cent. When contacted by Fiancial Chronicle, the company declined to comment on its pricing strategies.

Kaustubh Pawaskar, research analyst at Share-khan, said, “All three players have hiked prices to mitigate pressure on margins due to high raw material cost and packaging cost. Since overall penetration is low in this category, 5-10 per cent hike will be accepted by consumers.”

India is the second largest insecticides market in the world. While coils constitute the biggest chunk of sales, the sprays category is showing rapid growth, said a recent research report by Datamonitor. The primary insecticide varieties in India include insecticide coils, electric repellents, sprays and aerosols.