Utensil cleaners are proving to be the front runner leaving no bars behind.

Household cleaning market is observing huge presence of utensil cleaners with the constant adaption of bar cleaners by consumers.

The changing lifestyles of the rural and urban population and the rising awareness pertaining to maintenance of hygienic conditions at home will now contribute towards promoting the sale of utensil cleaners in India. Moreover, wars between multinationals are also expected to turn this low involvement market into an interesting one. It is hard to estimate how many utensils are washed every day in India; but given the population the number could run into billions and create a market for utensil cleaners that would be the envy of every country in the world Utensil cleaning products come in four principal forms: bars, powders, pastes and liquids. Some liquid products are so viscous that they are gels. Utensil cleaning materials have become widely preferred household product now, present in most kitchens. In rural areas, ash was used to clean utensils and the biggest hurdle in rural penetration of this category was to educate the rural consumers to use bar instead of ash. There is huge presence of local players in this section of the market which is posing a tough competition to the branded players present in this segment.

Market developments
The dishwashing bar category has become huge in the past few years due to vast population of the country. Some other advantages of bar utensil cleaner is that it has slowest slogging ability which helps to last long and is considered in the cheapest cleaning category which allows to purchase irrespective to his/her purchasing power. According to the report ""India Utensil Cleaning (By Type (Bar, Liquid, Powder, Paste) By Brand (Vim, Exo, Xpert, Prill, Pitambari, Finish, Dettol etc.) By Company, By Demographics, By Sales Channel, Opportunities, Challenges, Trends) Market Outlook, 2027-28"" published by Bonafide Research the Bar utensil cleaner have grown at an appreciable CAGR of around 12% in the last couple of years. There have been some innovative techniques that the brands used to gain consumer attention. For instance Vim bar was the first to use plastic coating around the bars which is patented as polycoat technology that prevents it from frequent slogging. On the other hand Exo the product of  Jyothy laboratories have launched Exo dish was bar round which is first ever dish was bar in round shape to be launched in Indian market.  Bar utensil cleaner is the first choice of women when it comes to clean the any sort of utensil. Vim bar, Exo Bar, Xpert, Odopic, Pril etc are the most prominent bar products that are being preferred by the consumers.

On the other hand, penetration levels as well as per capita consumption of liquid and powder cleaners are considered in the premium category products in Indian market which has just started gaining consumer attention. The products are widely available in tier 1 and some of the tier 2 cities because of presence of such products mostly through modern retails. There is a strong potential for liquid utensil market to grow in coming years. Reason behind that is the convenience offered by the liquid format and the reduction in wastage as compared with the bar format made the former a popular choice, especially in urban households.

Marketing wars among the companies
Companies are very much active in order to market their products introducing the celebrities. Xpert dish wash bar promoted by Vidhya Balan, Sakshi Tanwar promoting Vim bar, Shilpa Shetty promoted Exo dish wash bar. Marketing wars between multinationals are also expected to turn this low involvement market into an interesting one. Reckitt Benckiser and HUL have been battling fiercely on the germ-protection platform for their respective brands Dettol and Vim, making and contesting advertising claims. Other players like Jyothy Laboratories, Rohit Surfactants, Patanjali Ayurved, Pitambari Products and Dabur India are also gearing up the product portfolio to get into competition. As rivalry will intensify between these players, unorganized players will tend to lose the rural market too.

Changing trends in the market
The first wave of product innovation was led by dishwashing bars, as a replacement for powders, which required more effort and water than bars. The dishwashing bars were centered on reducing the effort needed to clean dishes and on saving money in the long run. Then dishwashing liquids got introduced in the market. Since dishwashing liquids were much higher priced, there was a lot of shyness among Indian homemakers about shifting from dishwashing bars. However, with the gradual realization of the fact that lower quantities of dishwashing liquids are required to clean the utensils and that they are gentler on the hands, shifting to liquid cleaners has become rapid.

Indian consumers’ household product preferences have undergone a massive transformation due to the increasing importance that people place on hygiene for ensuring their overall wellbeing. Although value-consciousness is the prime driver behind product choice, there are variety of other factors shaping consumption patterns and preferences, most important being the health and hygiene factor. In earlier days, traditional variants like ashes and bricks were used to clean the utensils. Hence, the players in dishwashing category paid more attention on generating consumer awareness relating to use and benefit of modern hygiene related products. As a result, Indian consumer slowly started migrating from ash to powder, powder to bar and now bar to liquid.