Gillette_India_Limited_AR_20

Annual Report 2019-20 4 Gillette India Limited Dear Shareholders, It gives me great pleasure to share with you the overall performance of your Company in 2019-20. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the pandemic disrupted the business operations. During this unprecedented crisis, we are prioritizing the health and safety of our employees and maximizing the availability of our products, which play an essential role in meeting the daily health and hygiene needs of our consumers across the country. It is the agility, commitment and innovation of your organization that enabled us to deliver resilient results in such a challenging environment. Your Company delivered sales of ₹1,679 crores, down 10% vs year ago and Profit After Tax (PAT) of ₹230 crores, down 9% vs year ago. In April-May, our sales were significantly impacted due to the pandemic-related lockdown, which reduced the shaving frequency among consumers. With the easing of the lockdown, we saw a sharp recovery to the pre-COVID levels. Our resilient results aredrivenbyour strategy todrivesuperiorityof our brands acrossproduct, packaging, communication, retail execution and value. This is fueled by strong focus on productivity and enabled by a highly agile and accountable organization. We are winning across all channels - traditional, modern retail and e-commerce. We are continuously innovating the way we build brands, run our supply chain and use digital marketing and data analytics to improve consumer reach and engagement. In the men’s grooming business, Gillette continued to be the market leader and reached its highest ever market share. Our irresistible superiority on product and commercial innovations continued to add millions of new users to the Gillette franchise. We launched Gillette SkinGuard , a premium system razor that provides the smoothest shave to consumers. In the brand’s female grooming portfolio, Gillette Venus registered its strongest year on share growth. In the Oral Care category, your Company continued to innovate, grow share and penetration. Oral-B also launched rechargeable electric toothbrush with popular characters for children. As a part of our COVID-19 response, Gillette launched the ‘Gillette Barber Suraksha Program', to support the barber community get back on their feet. The programenabled them to restart their business while high standards of safety, health and hygiene. Gillette continues to groom the youth of India on key skills required to increase employability through its program ‘Safalta Apni Mutthi Mein' which has reached more than 8000+ colleges and universities. We also reinvented our flagship CSR program P&G Shiksha and reached children remotely during this crisis. We connected with students via phone calls, SMSs, video calls and WhatsApp to continue and enhance their learning at home. While there are near-term challenges, the FMCG sector continues to be an important contributor to the economy. As the market recovers, we will continue to focus on driving balanced growth behind brand fundamentals, strength of the product portfolio and improved execution. Madhusudan Gopalan Managing Director