Persistent consumer adaptions lead the toilet cleaning market to cross whooping INR 1600 crore mark.

Toilet cleaning product market has seen dynamic consumer adaption that has lead the growth in the market. In India, open defecation was a well-established traditional practice deeply ingrained from early childhood. The practice is still rampant in rural India and the country is home to the worlds largest population of people who defecate in the open. This is the major reason why toilet cleaner, as a product, did not grasp much attention and importance before some years. People, who have toilets in their house still use rudimentary methods, like acid for its perceived cleansing properties and phenyl for its perceived ability to kill germs and spread fragrance. In fact today, such unbranded players comprise nearly double the size of the branded toilet cleaner category. Prising plays an important role in consumer's preference towards branded and unbranded product. This can be looked as Phenyls are the most sorts after alternative to clean toilets in India. They are available in the price range between Rs. 25 - Rs. 35 for a 500 ml bottle. On the other hand, branded toilet cleaners are sold somewhere between Rs. 65 to Rs. 75 for a 500 ml bottle.

According to the research report "India Toilet Cleaning Market Overview, 2028," published by Bonafide Research, the India Toilet Cleaning market is anticipated to grow at more than 10% CAGR from 2023 to 2028. Government initiatives are taking forward the concept of health and hygiene in the minds of Indian consumers; acting as a major driver for the increased product sales. Awareness campaigns, media exposure, and pressure from school-age children, are some of the other drivers. Multinationals are also leveraging the cleanliness drive by building toilets or funding them. This has given them an added advantage of promoting their toilet cleaning brands to rural consumers. As per the report "India Toilet Cleaning By Value, By Type ( Liquid Cleaner, In-Cistern, Rim, Others ), By Company, By Brand ( Sani fresh, Mr. Muscle, Clorox, Harpic, Domex etc. ), By Sales Channel ( General Retail, Modern Retail, Online ), By Demographics ( Urban, Rural ), Outlook ( Trends & Forecast ). The market is divided in to liquid cleaners, in-cistern & rim cleaners and others such as drainers, tablets, wipes, powders, and sprays. liquid toilet cleaners can be considered as main driver of the market with highest adaption in the rural as well as in the urban areas as it has its presence widely in general retail as well as the single retail stores.

Liquid toilet cleaner witnessed a huge surge in demand, mainly due to growing preference for liquids amongst consumers. Sales of branded liquid toilet cleaner continued to receive a boost owing to the growing awareness promoted by promotional campaigns of multinationals such as 'Harpic Challenge'. Harpic, one of the leading toilet cleaners, has recently announced Akshay Kumar as its brand ambassador to drive the mission of 'Har Ghar Swachh'. Harpic, Liquid cleaners are the cheapest category in the present in the market and are the ones which can be easily used in both Indian as well as the western style toilets. Whereas the products like in-cistern, rim blocks, drainers, tablets, wipes, powders, and sprays are found mainly in multi-brand retail stores and has its adaption mostly in urban areas. The toilet cleaner market in India has less penetration and less competition.

The market is highly consolidated with few players contributing market revenues. By far, Reckitt Benckiser with brand Harpic, Hindustan Unilever with Domex are considered as the prominent players. Other major players like Dabur and SC Johnson also managing to set their foot into the market share. Private label players like Future Group are pushing their brands of toilet cleaners aggressively in their stores. Pricing strategy by companies helped too as both Reckitt and Dabur launched smaller packs of 200-ml at an affordable Rs 24-30, especially for rural markets to generate more trials and usage. This is in contrast to their products that are sold at an average of Rs 50-70 for a half litre pack and over Rs 100 for a litre pack of toilet cleaners in urban markets. Many consumers, who traditionally used products such as acid, bleach and detergents, have shifted to branded products also because reach for such products have increased.