Personal grooming products maker Nivea India on Friday said it has started production of hand sanitisers from its skincare manufacturing plants in collaboration with its key partners.

The company said its plant at Sanand in Gujarat which originally manufactures skincare products for the India market has begun production of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, and it will be shifting part of its production towards the making of sanitisers at the plant.

The hand sanitisers will be distributed free of cost to the public hospitals and healthcare institutions in Ahmedabad and Vadodara as well as to distribution partners across the country, the company said in a statement.

'Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary solutions and we are happy to do our part to help in this time of need. We have been in constant touch with the local authorities and our key partners, having worked very hard over the past few weeks to make the switch at our plant and formulate the liquid hand sanitisers,' Nivea India managing director Neil George and vice-president of supply chain for the region Omar Navarro said in a joint statement.

This project was made possible in a record time only through the support and cooperation of the company's associates, including Gujarat Print Pack Ltd which provided packaging labels for the sanitiser bottles completely free of cost and Hyderabad-based partner Aptar Beauty and Home India Pvt Ltd, which provided pump assembly free of cost, they added.

The soaring demand for hand sanitisers following the coronavirus pandemic has already made several companies -- from FMCG players such as Patanjali, Emami, Raymond Consumer Care and Dabur to liquor makers like Radico Khaitan and Diageo -- to venture into manufacturing of the disinfectant.