Under Open Minds, on the purchase of every large size pack of the above mentioned P&G products in India, P&G on behalf of the consumer will contribute the cost of one day's education of a working child to the Open Minds fund.

The company hopes to raise Rs 1 crore for Open Minds in India over the next three months.

According to Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Ltd chairman & managing director Bharat Patel, the programme has been announced on the large size packs of the above mentioned brands as the company expects existing consumers to upgrade in terms of using more volume of the products to support the cause.

The large size pack of Ariel, for instance, contributes 50 per cent to the overall sales of the brand. The large size packs of Whisper, Pantene and Vicks contribute about 40 per cent, 50 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, to their overall sales. The company has projected a 10 per cent increase in sales of large size packs during the period under consideration, and this is expected to lead to a conversion in consumption from small size packs to large size packs.

When asked whether the company would retain the prices at the same level during the period to enable consumers to upgrade to a larger volume, Patel answered in the affirmative. The P&G products currently retail at the following levels: Ariel Power Compact (Rs 135 for one kg), Pantene (Rs 120 for 200 ml), H&S (120 for 200 ml), Vicks Vaporub (Rs 50 for 50 gram) and Whisper (Rs 107 for a pack of 20 napkins).

P&G to import Camay

Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care has stopped outsourcing beauty soap Camay in India, the company chairman & managing director Bharat Patel told The Financial Express.

The company has instead resorted to imports of Camay soap from France. The four varieties of Camay available in the market are as follows: Camay Light, Camay Classic, Camay Elegant and Camay Chick, all priced at Rs 28. Camay has traditionally been contract manufactured for P&G by Godrej Soaps which has excess capacities to manufacture soaps for other companies.

``Camay does not have high volumes in India, and thus we decided to import the same,'' Patel said. The market share of Camay in the Rs 2,900 crore toilet soaps market is just about one per cent.

P&G recently announced that shampoo manufacturing in India will stop and the company is likely to turn to imports to cater to the market needs. Patel said that import of shampoo will not affect the prices of the products as most of the ingredients which go into shampoos are anyway imported.