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Mysore Sandal Soap (Kannada: ಮೈಸೂರ್ ಸ್ಯಾಂಡಲ್ ಸೋಪ್) is a brand of soap manufactured by the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), a company owned by the Government of Karnataka in India. This soap has been manufactured since 1916 when Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, the king of Mysore set up the Government Soap Factory in Bangalore. The main motivation for setting up the factory was the excessive sandalwood reserves that the Mysore Kingdom had which could not be exported to Europe because of the First World War. In 1980, KSDL was incorporated as a company by merging the Government Soap Factory with the sandal oil factories at Shimoga and Mysore. Mysore Sandal Soap is the only soap in the world made from 100% pure sandalwood oil. KSDL owns a proprietary Geographical indication (GI) tag on the Mysore sandal soap which gives it intellectual property rights to use the brand name, to ensure quality and also prevent piracy and unauthorised use by other manufacturers. In 2006, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian cricketer was selected as the first brand ambassador of the Mysore Sandal Soap.
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History
In the early 20th century, the Mysore Kingdom in India was one of the largest producers of sandalwood in the world. It was also one of the major exporters of the wood, most of which was exported to Europe. During the First World War, large reserves of sandalwood were left over because they could not be exported due to the war. In order to make good use of these reserves, Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the king of Mysore established the Government Soap Factory in Bangalore. This factory, which was set up in 1916, started manufacturing soaps under the brand-name Mysore sandal soap using sandalwood oil as the main ingredient. A factory to distill sandalwood oil from the wood was set up at Mysore in the same year. In 1944, another sandalwood oil factory was set up at Shimoga. After the unification of Karnataka, these factories came under the jurisdiction of the Government of Karnataka. In 1980, the Government decided to merge these factories and incorporate them under a company named Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited. Sharabha, a mythological creature having a body of a lion and the head of an elephant, was chosen as the logo of the company. This was because the creature represents the combined virtues of wisdom, courage and strength and symbolizes the company's philosophy. The company has since diversified and manufactures incense sticks, talcum powder and detergents; apart from soaps.
Business
As of March 2006, the Mysore Sandal Soap held a 6500 tonne share among the 450 thousand tonnes of soap produced and marketed annually in India. The KSDL's soap factory in Bangalore that manufactures the Mysore Sandal Soap is one of the largest of its kind in India having an installed capacity to produce 26,000 tonnes of soap per annum. KSDL had sales of Rs 1.15 billion (about $ 28.75 million) in the year 2004-2005 with the Mysore Sandal Soap having an average monthly sale of about Rs. 75 million ($ 1.87 million). Traditionally, the soap has not been marketed in a high-profile manner and only during the year 2006, M. S. Dhoni, the Indian cricketer was selected as the first brand ambassador of the Mysore Sandal soap. Other marketing strategies being employed to market this soap include a scheme where the distributors who meet the targeted sales could enter a lucky draw where they could win silver or gold coins. About 85% of the sales of this soap are from the South Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Majority of the users of this soap are above forty years of age and it is yet to gain more acceptance by the youth in India. Apart from the regular, Mysore Sandal Soap, KSDL has also introduced the Mysore Sandal baby soap to target this share of the market. However, KSDL is facing issues like shortage of sandalwood which has resulted in the company using only 25% of the manufacturing capacity of its factory leading to a lesser production of soaps. The main reason for this is the depletion of sandalwood reserves in the state of Karnataka.
To overcome this, KSDL has also started procuring sandalwood by bidding in the open market and is also considering importing the wood from other countries. The absence of a sustained sandalwood regeneration program has a taken a big toll on sandalwood reserves in Karnataka. This is a great irony in a State that once set up factories to use up its excessive reserves and wears two GI (geographical indication) tags on its sleeve on account of its historic association with the precious wood.
The company will be celebrating its 100 years on 10th May 2016. It has planned a great celebration to commemorate the Centennial year, including plans to introduce a "Mysore Sandal Centennial" Soap to mark the occasion. Karnataka Soaps has planned to have a great event on 10th May 2016 to commemorate the 100th year.