Tamil Nadu is the Goldilocks for a perfect launch: GCPL's Sudhir Sitapati

For Godrej Consumer Products Limited, one southern state has emerged as the ideal testing ground for its next generation of consumer brands: Tamil Nadu.

Sudhir Sitapati, the company’s managing director and chief executive, recently described the state as uniquely positioned for test launches, citing its combination of affluence, media accessibility, and retail infrastructure. Two of the company’s newest products - Ninja, a pet food brand, and Bloq, an antidepressant personal care line - were both introduced in Tamil Nadu earlier this month.

“FMCG companies often look to categories that have done well in Southeast Asia as inspiration for India launches,” Sitapati wrote, noting that Tamil Nadu’s per capita income is 1.6 times the national average - mirrors that of emerging markets like Indonesia and Vietnam. But unlike other wealthy states such as Telangana and Karnataka, where income is heavily concentrated in urban hubs, Tamil Nadu's wealth is more evenly distributed.

Equally important is the state’s distinctive media landscape. Linear television remains the most cost-effective medium for achieving scale in product rollouts. However, in Hindi-speaking states such as Haryana, launching a product often requires advertising across a fragmented network of Hindi-language satellite channels. Tamil Nadu, by contrast, offers a more unified media market, where a handful of television networks can deliver statewide reach - up to 80 percent of the population 0 in as little as six weeks.

Distribution dynamics also favor Tamil Nadu. Sitapati pointed out that organized retail chains often limit access for emerging brands, making it difficult to gain shelf space without a substantial advertising push. Tamil Nadu, with its extensive network of independent, self-service supermarkets, enables more agile distribution and faster consumer trial - critical for niche or category-creating products.

“Newer categories tend to perform better in self-service formats,” he said, explaining that consumers are more likely to engage with and understand unfamiliar products in such environments.

In Sitapati’s view, Tamil Nadu offers a rare convergence of conditions for launching new consumer brands: economic prosperity, media efficiency and decentralized retail. “It is the only state in India with all the Goldilocks conditions for a perfect launch, a rich state that is media-isolatable, and where consumers shop in independent supermarkets,” he wrote. “That’s why, if you want to know what India is going to buy tomorrow, a visit to Coimbatore or Chennai is a must."

Read More: GCPL bets on emerging categories, creativity and more: Interview with Sudhir Sitapati