"Effectively, today we (Cibaca Top) have a 5.9 per cent share in the rural market - where it was virtually one per cent share previously," according to Colgate-Palmolive (India) managing director Mr Derrick Samuel.

The marketshare of Cibaca Top at the national level stands at 4.4 per cent. It has thus emerged as a strong rural player with the price point attracting new users to upgrade into the category, comment industry analysts.

"We have got in a few new users. Cibaca Top has also cannibalised a little bit on our other toothpastes. But in the market, it has cannibalised on some of the other low economy toothpastes," says Mr Samuel.

"East is particularly an economy market, with markets like Bihar which had a large scale presence of local players. There was local competition, and we have made a tremendous growth there with Cibaca Top," adds Mr Samuel.

Colgate-Palmolive's overall marketshare in the Rs 1,000-crore toothpaste market has gone up in the October to December quarter to 51.2 per cent in volume.

The launch of Cibaca Top led to the rejuvenation of the "economy" segment of the toothpaste market, which falls below the popular segment in terms of pricing. The company is clear about the fact that Cibaca Top will be the front runner brand in this segment.

In its portfolio hierarchy of brands, Colgate Total and Colgate Sensation Whitening lead the premium segment, Colgate Fresh Energy Gel is part of the gels segment, and Colgate Dental Cream and Colgate Herbal fall in the popular segment.

With the per capita consumption of toothpaste in India at an abysmal 82 gm against Thailand's 262 and US's 518, there is an urgent need to prop up the economy segment of the market, point out industry analysts.

Further, with the rural per capita consumption in India at a mere 38 gm vis-a-vis 153 gm in the urban market, the market potential for growth in the economy segment toothpaste brands is huge.