Try GOLD - Free
When legacy meets aspiration
Financial Express Pune
|December 17, 2025
FROM PRICE WARRIOR TO VALUE CURATOR, NIRMA MIRRORS A MATURED MARKET
FOR A BRAND that once forced market leaders to rethink the very meaning of “value”, Nirma’s latest move feels like a careful reset. In the 1980s and 1990s, Nirma unseated giants like Surf by collapsing the price hierarchy of detergents, selling at a fraction of the cost and immersing itself into popular culture with a jingle involving its four iconic leading ladies — Hema, Rekha, Jaya and Sushma.
Three decades on, the company is no longer trying to win by being the cheapest. With its latest Nirma Advance campaign, ‘Tujhsa hi Nirma hai’, it is confronting a new marketing dynamic where product performance has become the primary category narrative. The value end of the market has also changed significantly, with the RSPL Group’s Ghari detergent emerging a dominant player (with 16-20% share).
But can a brand born of economy climb the value ladder without breaking its emotional contract with lower and middle-income households?
This story is from the December 17, 2025 edition of Financial Express Pune.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Financial Express Pune
Financial Express Pune
Tier-2 cities lead employment boom as job mkt grows 23%
INDIA'S JOB MARKET ended 2025 on a high, clocking a robust 23% year-on-year rise in hiring activity, signalling broad-based employer confidence and steady expansion across industries.
1 min
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
B-Schools: Driving India's growth and shaping future leaders
Unlocking a path of innovation, visibility and purpose that redefines careers and shapes sustainable futures
2 mins
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
LEAD: Shaping industry-ready leaders through experience
LEAD College of Management emphasizes experiential learning. How is this approach applied in its MBA and MCA programmes?
3 mins
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
Parliament passes insurance Bill
PARLIAMENT ON WEDNESDAY passed a Bill to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector to 100% from the current 74%, a move expected to attract higher foreign capital inflows, support the adoption of global governance and innovation standards, and deepen insurance penetration in the country.
1 min
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
EVs get policy push, hybrids lose
Deepens auto industry split; Tata Motors, M&M gain edge
2 mins
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
Attero to invest ₹150 cr to scale up operations
E-WASTE RECYCLING FIRM
1 min
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
House panel moots 3-month deadline for NCLAT decisions
Warns against potential misuse of \"clean state\" norm by promoters
2 mins
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
Debt reduction key focus: FM
IT COULD COME in handy for the government which is facing a potential tax revenue shortfall compared with the Budget Estimate, and a possible dip in tax buoyancy in the near term, on account of massive the reliefs offered to taxpayers in terms of income tax and GST reductions.
2 mins
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
Debt reduction central to fiscal policy from FY27, says FM
States urged to improve fiscal transparency
1 min
December 18, 2025
Financial Express Pune
Sweet sorghum may also work as ethanol feedstock
THE GOVERNMENT IS conducting a study to assess the feasibility of sweet sorghum as an alternative feedstock for production of ethanol to diversify the raw material base for the biofuel, the food ministry said in Parliament on Wednesday.
1 min
December 18, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size