Speaking to newsmen after launching the Gain supersoaker here on Friday, P&G marketting manager Nayantara Bali said the new detergent is targetted at the middle-class consumer. It plans to create a new segment between the premium and economy detergents in the country.

As per the market research conducted by the company, there was no mid-way priced brands available between premium and economy detergents brands in the domestic market. The Indian housewives preferred to a detergent which blended with a good fragrance apart from being better cleaner.

The new detergent is priced at Rs 46 per kg while 500 grams packet will cost Rs 25. The price of P&G's Ariel detergent for the same volume is higher at Rs 72. Ariel is a premium brand of P&G which is also known as "Tide" in some international markets. Competitor brand Surf of Hindustan Lever is priced at Rs 75 for one kg, while the premium variant of Surf, Surf Excel, is priced at Rs 130 for one kg.

According to Bali, the market research had identifed the urge in the middle class consumer to have a low priced detergent which will give the same better performance like premium detergents. To meet this requirement the company has decided to introduce the product in Indian markets, Bali said.

Gain supersoaker was formulated by using P&G's proprietary detergent technologies in terms of better cleaning performance and increased the perfume levels by 50 per cent to that of Ariel supersoaker. Further, P&G proposes to fill the market gap with a blend of price and performance, Bali added.

Further Bali said that the `Gain' has a market share of about six per cent in the US markets, and India is the first country where the detergent is introduced outside USA.