Thiruvananthapuram, June 7: The retailers' boycott of HLL's Lifebuoy and Lux in Kerala may give a windfall to the newly-revived Kerala Soaps and Oils Ltd (KSOL), if the company can effect a marketing coup. The revival of Kerala Soaps and the relaunch of its productline appears timed to fill the void left in the state soap market by the absence of two fast-moving HLL products.

The Kerala Soaps factory in Kozhikode, which reactivated its production from May 26, brings to the market this week, Vep and Thrill in the premium segment and Carbolic in the lower end of the market. Kerala Sandal Soap, which used to sell well, is also likely to be revived.

However, this is also the time that the company hived off its conventional marketing machinery. Despite the state government's largesse of Rs 8 crore revival package, the company cannot afford to step up its marketing activities. "As a freshly revived company, our immediate thrust is on finding our feet in production, not improving our share of the market," Kerala Soaps chairman Verghese Mathew told The Financial Express.

A recent survey carried out by the company had shown the market share of the Kerala Soaps as mere 5 per cent. "As a company, which deployed 50 per cent of its staff as surplus labour, we are, at present, averse to a huge marketing network. Two carrying and forwarding agents in the north and south Kerala will take care of marketing. Apart from Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation and Maveli store outlets in the state, we have 65 distributors," he said.

An amount of Rs 5 crore from the revival package was spent on voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to 270 employees and the rest on recommissioning of the plant and machinery. There was a serious shortage of working capital, which Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE) - the holding company of Kerala Soaps - has decided to fill in, Verghese Mathew said.

Meanwhile, the company is busy trimming costs on the production front. After streamlining workforce, the labour costs have come down from 22 to 10 per cent. It has also entered into a tie up with Kerala Soap Federation, mother unit of 50 women-co-operatives, for soap manufacture.

The company will supply soap base noodles to these co-operatives which will manufacture the soap.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.