Regional Brands in India gaining over the larger brands??

In many product categories one can see the emergence of very strong regional brands at the number two or three slots. In last decade or so we have seen these regional players taking the fight to the more experienced marketing companies. These small and medium brands have been giving sleepless nights to their multinational counter parts , be it a Cavinkare or Jyothi laboratories in the south , or a Ghadi detergent in UP or Wagh Bakri tea in the west . The sluggishness of slowdown only adds to the growth of these smaller players.

The thought was actually triggered by the recent success achieved by santoor in becoming the number three player in the highly competitive soap market, though even Godrej's No1 is also claiming the number three slot in the market according to some reports. A recent report also shows that HUL has been losing market share in the shampoo market to companies like Dabur. And from almost nowhere Anchor toothpaste has also emerged as the number three player in the highly competitive toothpaste market which has deeply entrenched players like colgate...

Other strong regional brands are,Ahmedabad-based Paras Pharmaceuticals, North-based Surya foods with its Priya brand of biscuits, Emani.....

India in my understanding would predominantly be a market of regional brands, because the regional differences within the markets is too great to be catered to by a single national brand, though the phenomenon is yet to manifest itself fully due to the lack of economies of scale at these levels, but in the future as these regional markets mature so would brands catering to them.