With this, the multinational dental care major has completed its product offering in toothbrushes at all age levels. "My First Colgate", which is a global brand from the company, is priced at Rs 15 and comes with an attractive animal foot-shaped stand.

Other tooth brush products for children in Colgate's portfolio are Colgate Super Star for children in the age group of four and eight, and Colgate Junior for children above the age of eight. Other premium brands of brushes for kids are Aqua Fresh from Smithkline Beecham and Royal.

HLL had launched Pepsodent Junior, also priced at Rs 15, two years back. The aim was to make brushing a fun activity for children. HLL was thus ahead of Colgate to fill in this slot.

The new brush launched by Colgate comes shortly after the company rolled out a new toothpaste "Sensation Whitening" in response to the launch of Close-Up Renew Ultra Whitening by HLL.

According to Alchemy Share & Stock Brokers analyst Deven Sangoi, growth in Colgate will come largely from new product launches from its parent's international product portfolio. The support that the Indian subsidiary is getting from the parent in terms of product initiatives seems to be consistent and will augur well for Colgate Palmolive in India, said Sangoi.

The marketshare of Colgate in the roughly Rs 400 crore toothbrush market is around 45 per cent while that of HLL's is around 20 per cent, say industry sources.

The logic behind Colgate's move to introduce a brush for children in this age group is to register the brand equity at an early stage of life. "Children generally grow up on a certain brand and thus this segment is essentially tapped by most FMCG companies. Moreover, since this segment is generally a premium one, companies get a higher growth in terms of value," says Anand Rathi Securities analyst Sanjeev Patkar.

At the lower end of the market, which is the larger portion of the total toothbrush market in India, the products are priced under Rs 15. The tooth brush market is largely dominated by Colgate Palmolive with its brands of Colgate and Cibaca. The other brands in this market are Pepsodent, Jordan and Oral B.