Success story: How a Chandigarh brand built trust in baby care without celebrity gloss

A strategic beginning

Gandhi is clear that the brand was not inspired by the birth of his daughter. In fact, Mother Sparsh predates his parenthood. “This was a purely strategic decision,” he says. “There was a gap for a premium Indian baby care brand made for Indian children, their climate and their skin.” Baby care, he argues, is among the most competitive and least impulsive consumer segments. “Parents do not buy because of packaging or celebrity faces,” he says. “They buy because they trust you to be safe and consistent through their child’s early years.”

Thinking FMCG, not hype

From the outset, Gandhi wanted Mother Sparsh to be seen as a serious FMCG company rather than a short-term internet brand. “I was clear that this had to be built for scale, margins and longevity,” he says. “Not just quick online visibility.” The brand’s identity reflects that thinking. “The dark green colour stands for nature and stability,” he explains. “I see it like a banyan tree, something that grows slowly but lasts.” The logo of a mother and child draws on cultural familiarity, while the name Mother Sparsh was chosen deliberately. “It had to feel instinctive and warm, not like marketing jargon,” he says.

Reinventing baby wipes

Mother Sparsh’s first and defining product was baby wipes, a category Gandhi saw as trapped in price competition. “Wipes had become a convenience product, but nobody was really talking about hygiene,” he says. The brand took a different route by drawing on a practice recommended by doctors and followed across generations. “Everyone agrees that cotton and water are best for babies,” Gandhi says. “We built around that universal truth.”

Mother Sparsh positioned its wipes as “as good as cotton and water”, using 100 per cent natural fabric, greater thickness and no polyester elements.

Sampling over advertising

Instead of large advertising spends, the company invested heavily in sampling. “We knew no advertisement could explain the feel of the product,” Gandhi says. “Mothers had to touch it, fold it and use it.” So far, an estimated 3 to 3.5 million mothers have received sample packs through hospitals, partnerships and platforms such as Blinkit and Swiggy. “Sampling is expensive and risky,” he says. “But once a mother experiences the difference herself, the decision becomes organic. According to Gandhi, the response was immediate. “Once they used it, the trust followed,” he says.

Scaling trust

Baby wipes, used from the first day, became Mother Sparsh’s entry point into a child’s lifecycle. Today, wipes account for about 40 per cent of the brand’s portfolio, and the company claims leadership in the segment. It also maintains in-house research and development.

Gandhi says trust is the secret to his success.
“Trust cannot be bought,” Gandhi says. “You have to earn it, product by product. If parents trust you with their child, everything else follows.”