(This story originally appeared in on Jul 14, 2014)

KOLKATA: Aira Sensual, MenClub , LadyDiana, Dynamite—if you smell something funny in these brand names,you are likely a typical metro resident and therefore a stranger to one aspect of an FMCG revolution.

Small-town, low-end brands like Diana, Dynamite and scores of other shave joined big city, high-end brands like Axe, Engage,Fogg and their ilk to revolutionise the deodorant business in India. Consider the numbers—a staggering 986 varieties of deos (from 500 brands) are sold across markets, with as many as 103 recent launches.Between 2009 and 2014, the market size of deos jumped from Rs 500 crore to Rs 2,300 crore.The deo market is growing at around 18 per cent annually, and the growth in rural markets that account for a tenth of deo sales, is 29 per cent. Sales pitches have changed and 31 per cent of the market is accounted for by women's deodorants.

While longer, hotter summers may be a deo-maker's best friend, the fact is deos used to be a marginal business in India. It's only recently a substantial number of Indian shave accepted the marketer's pitch about smelling good.

"The smell culture is evolving. Deodorants are taking the place of talcum powder just the way tooth paste displaced tooth powder a long time ago," says brand expert Harish Bijoor.

"Low income families are taking to deos as well," he added.

Little wonder then the deodorant market is seeing brands emerging as if they are being sprayed out of an aerosol can, and the winners are not always predictable. At the higher end, ITC's Engage, available now in 14 variants, have become the second largest player by volume. But the even more smell-good story is that of the largest player, Fogg, marketed by FMCG minnow Vini Cosmetics.

FMGC major HUL's popular deo brand Axe was beaten by Fogg last October and then ITC's Engage claimed the second spot. Now Wildstone, a deo from another FMCG minnow, McNROE Cosmetics, is spraying down Axe's neck, having achieved fourth place in the market.

Established brands like Park Avenue, Old Spice, Nike's deos aren't the top players. Fogg enjoys a 12.5 per cent market share followed by Engage (8.1 per cent), Axe (6.9 per cent) and Wild Stone (6.9 per cent), as per Nielsen data. Deo-entrepreneurship is even more vibrant at the low end. Little known companies are churning out smell-good sprays for customers in smaller towns and rural areas.

Here's a representative list: Agarwal Herbal Products sells Aira Sensual in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Aerol Formulations sells Tycoon in the North, Ra Lifecare's Men Club and Nandita Pharma 's Dynamite are sold in the West, Monet Marketing's Passport and Lady Diana are marketed in the North and East.

They may lack the marketing sophistication of high-end brands and their market share may be small, but a total of 986 brands of deodorants obviously mean players like these smell future growth.

FMCG majors also agree. A HUL spokesperson says even at the current frenetic level of growth, deodorant consumption in India is still marked by "moderate consumption and low penetration".

While majors like ITC have smelt success by smart brand differentiation - Engage is a men's and women's product - and distribution, low-end players rely on lower pricing and newly curious consumers. As Santosh Desai, MD at Future Brand, says: "Deodorant is a relatively new category with low entry barriers and healthy margins, enough to support new investment. Even new players can gain market share, allowing everyone to take their best shot."

As the deodorant business starts smelling even better, expect its advertising pitches to get less 'laddish'. Marketers say the booming category of women's deos and the fact that deos are a broader lifestyle product have forced changes in advertising strategies. One deo tagline reads "Be Interesting". Another says, "1,000 Sprays". Nothing 'laddish' there, and these taglines almost sum India's ongoing deo revolution.