BENGALURU, May 14 Reuters Colgate Palmolive India reported a 20 rise in fourthquarter profit on Tuesday, helped by price hikes and higher demand for its personal care products, mainly toothpastes.

Net profit rose to 3.80 billion rupees 45.5 million for the JanuaryMarch period, from 3.16 billion rupees a year earlier.

Consumer product makers like Colgate Palmolive are seeing a rise in demand for premium oral hygiene products among urban consumers, who have higher disposable incomes, analysts said.

The toothpaste maker39;s sales rose 10.4 to 14.81 billion rupees.

Marketing expenses, which rose 18 on the back of new product launches and advertising campaigns, resulted in a 6.2 increase in total expenses.

Rural markets continued to exhibit positive signs of demand recovery, growing ahead of urban, the company said.

Analysts, however, expect rural demand to show improvement by the December quarter as the monsoon typically boosts farm income.

Rival Hindustan Unilever missed quarterly earnings estimates but also said that a recovery in rural demand is underway.

Meanwhile, Dabur India posted betterthanexpected results for the March quarter, buoyed by demand for its food products.

Parent ColgatePalmolive raised the forecast for annual organic sales growth last month, banking on resilient demand for its highlypriced selfcare and pet nutrition products.

Shares of ColgatePalmolive India closed down 1.4 on Tuesday ahead of its results.

The stock has risen 13.5 this year…