Much of the laundry done in India is still washed by hand. During this process, the majority of the time and water needed for such a task is used to rinse clothes out; on average, people use four buckets of water just to rinse their garments clean. To make matters worse, many parts of India are dry and without an overabundance of available water resources. Surf Excel saw this and figured they could better adapt to their surroundings, by cutting down on the water and time needed to do laundry. Although Surf Excel is one of many products that Hindustan Lever Limited (India's largest packaged mass consumption goods company) markets, it didn't fall by the wayside. The company focused their attention on Surf, intent on making a better experience for their high volume customer base. The Surf Excel scientists got to work, figuring out how they could reduce the amount of water their users needed. What they found is that reducing the amount of foam the soap produces is a key factor in cutting water usage. The problem is that people connect foam to cleanliness, so their soap still had to produce a rich lather. Eventually they managed to find a foaming agent that suppresses lather when the concentration of surfactant active is lower - in other words when washing is complete and rinsing begins - a discovery that ultimately cut down on the amount of time and water needed by about 50 percent. Surf Excel, while already being a popular laundry detergent brand, has shown it's commitment to making life more efficient, and that translates to a good idea in any language.