The diaper market, which has until now seen little or no action, is likely to witness some in the near future. The beginning would of course be seen in Procter & Gamble India's decision to drop prices on the Pampers brand. Pampers, which had been priced at Rs 14.50 earlier saw a sudden drop in prices in recent times to climb down to Rs 11.

According to market watchers, this is a conscious effort on P&G's part to garner a higher share of the diaper market which has been expanding rapidly, with estimates placed at a 20 per cent growth. Pampers is, in fact, the lowest priced brand in the market. This is also in line with P&G's pricing strategy internationally where Pampers is among the cheapest brands in the market.

Hindustan Lever, onthe other hand, has decided to go in for a segmented approach. So far, the prices on its Huggies brand have been maintained. Comparable (to Pampers) diapers are priced between Rs 12.50 and Rs 13.50. Instead, the company has recently introduced a low-priced `nappy diaper pad' under the Huggies brand name which is priced as low as Rs 5 per diaper.

An official spokesperson told The Financial Express

that Hindustan Lever would be pushing the new pads for the lower-end market while retaining Huggies diapers' current pricing. He, however, declined to comment on the possible changes in the pricing strategies in case of aggressive market competition.

A new entrant into the market, Korean diaper `Babylove' has suddenly picked up in sales, say market sources. Sources at popular retail outlets confirmed this statement saying that the sales of the diaper had `been very good' in the near past. Babylove is priced slightly higher than Pampers and Huggies at Rs 15.50 per diaper.

Yet another new entrant makingforays into the market shares of established brands is Fitti. Yet another Korean company which has decided to hawk its produce in the huge Indian market. The pricing of Fitti is also along Rs 15.00 per diaper.

Japanese consumer goods manufacturer Kao Corporation has introduced Merries in the Indian market; Merries is priced at a premium to all the available brands.

Meanwhile, a little known Bangalore-based company Nugen has also introduced a diaper in the Indian market called Angels which is priced at Rs 15.50 per diaper. This is positioned as a premium product with special protection claims including aloe vera protection have been introduced to attract attention to the product. The diaper has been launched in Karnataka, Goa and Tamil Nadu and is expected to be available nationally by October.

Erstwhile favourite Snuggy seems to have lost out in the race as most of the top department stores in Chennai did not carry stocks of the brand.

As for the nappy-diaper segment yet another brand which is doingthe rounds is Comfort weave, from Modi Impex which is priced at Rs 4.33 per diaper to Huggies' Rs 5.