Centre awards GIR for Mysore sandal soap, sandal oil

Bangalore, July 26 (UNI) The Union Government has awarded the prestigious Geographical Indication Registry (GIR) for the world famous Mysore sandal soap and sandal oils, manufactured by the state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), its Managing Director I G Perumal informed today.

Talking to newspersons here, he said the award indicated that these products had intellectual properties from India.

He said the KSDL was engaged in manufacturing of soaps of high quality and its competitiveness in the fast moving consumer goods industry had won it the unique distinction for two products.

Mr Perumal explained that GIR was given only to those products or commodities which had distinction of uniqueness from a region. It gave a unique value to compete in the international market, besides providing legal protection to products and trademarks.

He said KSDL exported products worth Rs four crore to the Middle East, South East Asian countries and the US.

After a gap of 16 years, the KSDL today relaunched its much sought after product, Mysore sandalwood oil, in a pack of five ml and 10 ml at a cost Rs 300 and Rs 600 respectively. It had achieved a turnover RS 125 crore during 2005-06 and set a target of 153 crore for the current fiscal.

He disclosed that after appointing ace cricketer M S Dhoni as the brand ambassador for Mysore sandal soap, the company's sales had gone up by Rs 10 crore.

Mr Perumal said KSDL had also launched a a novel project, 'Grow More Sandalwood,' under which it was supplying sandalwood saplings to the private land owners and farmers at subsidised rates. Over two lakh saplings had already been supplied to farmers of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

He exuded confidence that the project would help both the growers and the company in the long run.

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