Industry sources say the account was shifted as Nihar failed to grab a substantial market share, despite massive expenditure on advertising during its relaunch.

HLL sources said this was an internal decision.

SSC&B Lintas used to handle the Parachute account for Marico Industries two years back. Marico shifted the account to Ambience owing to competitive reasons, with Lintas handling a major part of ace rival Lever's account, industry observers feel. Ambience is handling the Parachute account for more than a year now.

Nihar has garnered a market share of around 9 per cent in the Rs 300-crore coconut hair-oil market dominated by Parachute, industry sources say. Nihar's activity was targeted at mustering market share from the leader.

Parachute has, in fact, raised its market shareto 53 per cent from 51 per cent over last year. Tata Nihar, as Nihar was earlier known, had a market share of 7-9 per cent a few years back.

Nihar adopted a brand new look last year at a time when Parachute restructured and overhauled its image. The fresh look was accompanied by a new advertising campaign by Ammirati Puris Lintas, which also saw a host of new Nihar hoardings across Mumbai.

Nihar was acquired by HLL from Tomco after Tomco's merger with Hindustan Lever three years ago. Before the acquisition, Tata Nihar had a share of around 5 per cent.

While it aimed at biting into Parachute's share, Nihar was understood to be fighting the battle more at the lower end with other brands like Coco Care and Coco Raj. As of now, this has not disturbed Parachute's market share.

Nihar, however, is said to be growing at a faster pace in the northern regions and Bihar.