Kerala Soaps /ref> is a state-owned soap-manufacturing company in the state of Kerala, India, producing the erstwhile brands, manufactured by Kerala Soaps and Oils Limited. The company was founded in 1914, and reconstituted as a state-owned company in 1963 in the Kozhikode district of Kerala. The company operates as a subsidiary of
Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Canar ...
. After four decades of operation, the company was locked down in 2002 owing to heavy losses, and in a general atmosphere of state
divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is a ...
. After remaining closed for eight years, aimed at tapping on the popularity of its legacy brands, operations restarted on 1 January 2010, under a new management. The original company Kerala Soaps and Oils Limited was known for its legacy brands, including Kerala Sandal, a bathing bar made of sandalwood extract harvested from the forest of Kerala.