FMCGs: Cuts both ways.

(From Business Line)

Byline: Aarati Krishnan

IT APPEARS to be a mixed blessing for companies operating in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment. Companies manufacturing soaps, detergents, shampoos and personal products, such as Hindustan Lever, Colgate Palmolive India, P&G, Gillette and Godrej Consumer, will stand to gain from the reduction in input costs brought on by the lower effective import duties on a range of raw materials.

With the peak Customs duty down from 25 per cent to 20 per cent, the effective import duty on inputs such as surfacants, linear alkyl benzene and oleochemicals will be pegged down, from 50.8 per cent to 39.2 per …