Calcutta, July 11: Personal care major Emami Ltd plans to shift its focus to "perennial" products to protect its business from the vagaries of climate, which weighed on sales last fiscal.

"Since a majority of our products are seasonal, erratic weather also affected our sales. In view of this, we balanced our portfolio through the introduction of non-season (perennial) products. Over the next few years, we expect to launch more weather-agnostic products to derisk ourselves from the meteorological vagaries," said S.K. Goenka, managing director of Emami, in the annual report for 2015-16.

The company is planning to launch a slew of products in the next few years.

"Our all-weather launches such as 7-Oils-in-One, Zandu Pure Honey and Fair & Handsome Instant Fairness Face Wash received encouraging response from the market. In fact, our investment for the ongoing fiscal will be more than what we did this year for new products," Naresh H. Bhansali, chief financial officer and CEO (finance, strategy & business development), said.

In the last fiscal, the FMCG major invested Rs 148 crore in launches, a growth of 68 per cent over Rs 88 crore invested in 2014-15.

The company is looking to expand its product line in Southeast Asia, Africa, Commonwealth of Independent States and West Asia.

"We will be strengthening our presence in the existing geographies through our existing brands and strategic launches. In addition, we will extend the existing brands to new or smaller countries of Africa, Indonesia and Myanmar based on consumer preferences," Bhansali said.

Diversifying into healthcare from the personal care segment, the Company has also begun testing the market of herbal products addressing lifestyle diseases and one of its launches is Nityam tablets, a laxative in tablet form. Emami Ltd also aims to launch several over-the-counter drugs (OTC) products over the next few years. The company is also the largest pharmaceutical chain in Bengal under the Frank Ross brand.