Background Notes for session on 14th,November,2022

Growing competition in FMCG Sector and its impact on Rural Markets –

Open Discussion

Article 1:
Reliance Foray to Bring a Slow Burn to FMCG, Change the Rules and
Game
Low capital needs, sourcing & pricing are advantages, but building distribution network is
tough
Kiran.Somvanshi@timesgroup.com 31-08-2022
ET Intelligence Group : Reliance Industries’ entry into the fastmoving consumer goods space
through its retail arm may not cause any immediate impact but
does bear long-term ramifications for the existing FMCG players, both large and small.
Reliance Retail’s presence will increase the overall competitive intensity in the FMCG
market, prompt existing players to spend more on branding to protect
their market shares and lead to some consolidation in the industry as small and regional
brands become easy targets for acquisition by a large player like
Reliance.
It makes commercial sense for a retail major like Reliance Retail to enter the business of
FMCG products due to clear synergies and advantages.
As such, entry into FMCG is not a highly capital-intensive business proposition. It will help
Reliance Retail achieve forward integration in its value chain.
Besides, selling goods produced by tribal people and marginalised communities is likely to
create a strong social value proposition for its consumers and enable it to differentiate from
other brands in competitive categories.
The company also reportedly plans to launch products at much lower prices compared with
the competition and has set up a dedicated team for product development to identify gaps in
the market. While the products will be initially sold through 1. 5 million kiranas, they will have
a dedicated network in the longer term.
However, building strong iconic mass brands isn’t easy. For ITC, it took more than two
decades and huge investments to build its brands and ramp up the FMCG business to the
current level. Hindustan Unilever, with all its power brands, has been doing business in the
country for nearly 90 years now. These companies, over the years, have built formidable
distribution networks — especially in rural India. It is not easy for a new player to enter the
market and become an immediate threat to the incumbents.
However, Reliance, with its aggressive track record and deep pockets, has the potential to
be the game-changer. Reliance Retail can push its FMCG products through its fast-growing

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e-commerce platform Jio Mart and modern trade channel Reliance Smart. Categories like
staples and groceries, with large unorganised market share, offer huge scope for large,
branded players to establish salience. Partnership with small producers and MSMEs will
help it enrich its product portfolio and build a strong supply chain.
The Indian FMCG industry grew 16% in 2021 — its fastest rate in nine years — driven by
price increases and a low base. However, the volume growth now remains subdued amid
high inflation. Rating firm Crisil has estimated the industry to grow 10-12% in 2022. The
growth numbers are attractive for a large player like Reliance to step into the sector to grow
the pie in the long run, rather than eat into the existing market shares.

Article 2:

Jio moment in FMCG! Reliance's turf war with HUL, ITC is set to begin
The Mukesh Ambani-led group's foray into the FMCG market is expected to soon initiate a
fierce battle with industry leaders like HUL, ITC, Nestle & Coca-Cola for capturing shelf
space...
In the modern retail space, Reliance is already the largest player by far with over 15,000
outlets under its various brands.In the modern retail space, Reliance is already the largest
player by far with over 15,000 outlets under its various brands.
Arnab Dutta, Sep 08, 2022,
After disrupting the telecom market in 2016, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) is
gearing up for another war. Last time, Reliance’s aggressive foray into the country telecom
services space had resulted in weeding out of multiple players. This time, it is the fast
moving consumer goods (FMCG) market that is under siege.
Taking cue from its previous attempt, Ambani’s Reliance is planning to go all out. Not only it
is going to leverage its existing private label brands but the wide network of general trade
outlets - the local kiranas - spread across the length and breadth of the country.
The fight for shelf space
Take a peak at its expansion plans in the physical retail space, for instance, and you will get
an idea about the scale of Reliance’s ambitions in the FMCG space. As per estimates by
Edelweiss Securities that tracks the company closely, RIL is expected to bring 10 million
merchants on board over the next five years. In comparison, Hindustan Unilever - the
country’s largest full range FMCG player - has 9 million retail partners that sell its products.
Salt-to-cigarettes conglomerate ITC’s products are sold via less than, an estimated, 7 million

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outlets. Country’s largest pure play food & beverages company Nestle India has some 4.5
million retailers under its fold. And unlike RIL, their retail foot print was built over several
decades.
According to Mukesh Ambani, while Reliance is already a leading player in the modern retail
and digital platforms, the company has set a target of increasing its reach in the hinterlands
that remain under-served.
Analysts say, RIL’s formal foray into the FMCG space may have come last week but the
company has already begun on-boarding super-stockists and distributors. Put it simply, it
has already started building the backbone of the general trade channel that continues to
contribute over 85 per cent of the FMCG revenue in the country. “We surmise it could offer
higher margins to trade, deploy analytics, and leverage Jiomart’s reach, which would make it
easier for it to launch and gauge demand for certain segments,” analysts at Edelweiss noted.
In the modern retail space, Reliance is already the largest player by far with over 15,000
outlets under its various brands. In the rapidly growing e-commerce segment, according to
Isha Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Retail (RRL), in FY22 the company has catered to
nearly 200 million retail customers - 230 per cent higher than FY2021. Its digital commerce
platforms (like JioMart and Milk Basket) served 600,000 orders on an average every day.
According to her, RRL’s merchant partner initiative - launched two years ago - now has over
2 million merchants on board.
“We add about 150,000 partners a month and are on close to 1 crore merchants as we
expand our presence to cover the entire country, serving over 7,500 towns and over 500,000
villages in the next five years,” she said during RIL AGM last week. To back it up further,
RRL has tied-up with Meta (formerly Facebook) to allow consumers to order through
WhatsApp.
According to analysts at Prabhudas Lilladher, RIL’s plan is to create a platform to connect
millions of small merchants with customers. This omni-channel approach, involves serving
consumers at the doorstep from the nearest kirana outlets by integrating the ordering, stock
availability and delivery of daily essentials in a cost-effective manner.
Industry experts say, Reliance has chosen the right battle to begin with. Capturing retail shelf
space - which essentially means better availability and placing the products on grocery
stores prominently - is a key ingredient for success in the FMCG business.
Value for money is the key
Another crucial factor that decides the fate of FMCG companies in the India market, is the
‘value for money’ proposition. In a price conscious market like India, where per capita
consumption of FMCG products continues to trail even that of the developing markets like
Indonesia and Vietnam, offering affordable products to the mass has proved to be most
significant factor over the years. This, in spite of the fact that India is the fourth largest
FMCG market in world with annual sales crossing Rs 5 trillion (lakh crore).
Reliance’s foray in the FMCG market essentially means, “a wider distribution to general and
modern trade. Initial focus of the company would be on small packs grocery segments.
Wider diversification to follow gradually”, said analysts from ICIC Securities.
The Mumbai-headquartered company has been piloting for the past two years with some
in-house brands. Its private label Snactac caters to categories like snacks, biscuits and
instant noodles; Desi Kitchen in instant mixed, flours, pickles and blended masalas; and

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Goodlife in pulses, rice and edible oil. These brands were primarily pushed through its own
retail platforms like JioMart and Reliance Fresh.
But with its formal foray into the market now, Reliance has upped the ante. To venture into
the country’s Rs 50,000 crore aerated drinks market, it has acquired Campa Cola - a home
grown fizzy drinks brand that was popular in 80s. This places Reliance Retail in direct
competition with the two American cola giants - PepsiCo and Coca-Cola - that have been
rolling the local market since 1990s.
“Our strategy is to integrate with millions of small merchants…the aim is to bring them to
become an integral part of the widest distribution portfolio across the country so that they
can provide the same choices to their customer that are available in big cities,” Ambani said
during the annual general meeting of Reliance Industries.
Additionally, according to him, RRL is also working on to strengthen its supply chain
capabilities further so that it can serve across the vast Indian geography in the “most efficient
manner”. This will not only help it reduce waste but will also allow the company to pass on
the benefits to its customers - which effectively means, RRL will be able to offers products at
competitive prices. This has set off the alarm bell.
“RIL’s FMCG foray cannot and should not be ignored by incumbents. Multiple (companies)
could feel the heat once RIL makes an acquisition or advertises aggressively. RIL is likely
looking at buying out brands such as Garden Namkeens (Cavin Kare), Lahori Zeera
(beverages) and Bindu Beverages (fizzy drinks and fruit juices)," Edelweiss said.
According to its analyses, Adani Wilmar, Varun Beverages and Tata Consumer’s Sampann
portfolio are at risk now. “Being much more diversified, HUL and Marico face some risks too.
We expect risk to be lower for companies such as Nestle, Dabur and Colgate,” they said.
It seems like a deja vu - the Jio moment in FMCG.

Article 3
Nestlé powers on with a rural revamp and innovation
07 December 2021 12:28:14 IST
The FMCG major launched new, tailor-made products that helped it make further inroads
into the hinterland.
In March 2021, Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing director of FMCG major Nestlé
announced that the company is set to reach more than 1.2 lakh villages, each with over
5,000 people, in rural India by 2024. To cater to the needs of rural consumers, Nestlé is
changing its product portfolio by renovating some products. Suresh Narayanan said, “Rural
is an important dimension of the next phase for Nestlé.”
Nestlé has always been associated with the urban market, and young city dwellers in India
too typically take a liking to its product portfolio in India. After the Maggi fiasco in 2015,
Nestlé wanted to reduce its dependence on a few products and widen its reach. Nestlé India

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Ltd (NIL) launched nearly 35 products within a span of just six months in 2016. At that time,
it had a presence in just 6,000 villages across the country.

Fierce competition
Nestlé is a late entrant. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) was one of the first in India to develop
a strong rural distribution network in the 1940s and gain a wide reach. Later, in the 1990s,
HUL expanded its distribution network through Project Shakti, which helped women become
entrepreneurs by selling HUL goods. The project helped HUL cover almost 50 per cent of all
the 6,00,000+ Indian villages.
Other FMCG companies are not far behind — ITC catered to nearly 1,00,000 villages in
2021. P&G is strengthening its network to reach more rural areas. Marico has increased its
number of stockists to 6,200, up by 30 per cent. Dabur, with over 6.7 million outlets in both
urban and rural areas, attributed 46 per cent of its total sales to rural alone.
Initially, Nestlé’s focus was on tier 1 and tier 2 cities from where it was witnessing high
demand. It then expanded its focus to smaller towns with 10,000 to 15,000 people. To
improve reach, the company started researching customers’ needs and shopping habits in
different geographies. This helped the company to come up with strategies specific to each
market and tailor its products accordingly.
Product diversification
Nestlé had always relied on a few flagship products, such as Maggi and Nescafé. Once it
started catering to rural markets, it started putting out tailor-made products in different
packages. Between 2016 and 2018, Nestlé launched 39 new products. These included
Masala Fusion dairy whitener, Greek Yogurt Grekeyo, and Nestlé Everyday Chai in three
varieties.
It launched Nestlé a+ Banglar Misthi Dai, and Ceregrow organic cereals, Lactgrow for
toddlers, and products in the weight management category like OPTIFAST. Under the Maggi
range, it launched new variants of sauces, soups, pasta, and poha . New flavours of Maggi
— Yummy Capsica and Chatpata Tomato — were launched along with atta spinach noodles.
To cater to growing demand from towns and tier 2 and tier 3 cities, Nestlé launched Maggi
fried rice masala, Paneer masala mix, and Nestlé Ceremeal Daliya.
Related content
At the same time, Nestlé also withdrew some products which were not garnering enough
sales. These included health drink, Milo, as it had failed to gather enough momentum in
spite of its long-lasting presence. Other products that Nestlé decided to remove from the
shelves included Nestlé Chocostik, butter, and Nestlé Choo. With the rural push, Nestlé had
covered 89,000 villages by 2019.
Challenges
During the Covid-19 pandemic, growth in the urban areas tanked, but the rural markets
showed accelerated growth. In the quarter ending December 2020, while Nestlé’s overall
sales grew by 10 per cent, urban sales grew by just 6 per cent. Narayanan was of the view
that the main reason for the falling demand from urban markets was the reverse migration
that took place in the wake of the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the virus.

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At the same time, semi-urban and rural India were experiencing growth. For example, Maggi
had found several takers in rural markets, pushed by advertisements in local languages and
smaller packs priced at ₹5.
As of early 2021, rural areas accounted for 25 per cent of Nestlé’s revenue, and the
company announced that it would continue to concentrate on the rural markets due to
growing demand. However, Nestlé was still behind the other FMCG companies, which had
an average revenue of 35 per cent from the rural areas. In order to reach 120,000 villages,
Narayanan looked at introducing customised products, and different packages and
distribution channels.
Related content
Narayanan was also positive about the demand for packaged products growing further,
owing to the bottom of the pyramid shrinking and the estimated 140 million households
expected to move into the affluent class by 2030. In the rural areas, Nestlé was in
competition with players such as Unilever, ITC, Dabur, and so on, in a highly-penetrated
market. These companies offer a wider range of products that enjoy immediate recall among
rural consumers. For Nestlé, only Maggi has mass appeal.
To capture the rural markets, it is important for companies to reach customers through direct
channels, experts said. Most FMCG companies reached more than 60 per cent of their
outlets through direct channels. But Nestlé reached only 1.5 million outlets directly of the
total 4.5 million outlets, and much of this reach was in the urban region.
Another issue that Nestlé needed to address was the high price of its products. Except for
Maggi, and some varieties of chocolate, the rest of its products were not available at low
price points.
Analysis
India has the world’s largest rural population. According to the 2011 census, rural markets
comprise more than 6,40,000 villages with 850 million people. Despite increasing
urbanisation, over half of India’s population still lives in the rural areas. Around 15 per cent of
the rural population lived in poverty as of 2020. The average size of the rural household is
4.7. The rural FMCG market in India accounts for 40 per cent of the overall FMCG market in
India.
The people in villages account for half of the country’s GDP and their consumption patterns
are changing gradually. They demand high-quality products, just like their urban
counterparts. The consumer goods market in India’s rural areas, which stood at $12 billion in
2019, is expected to rise to $100 billion by 2025.
The rural population is turning tech-savvy and, with the growing penetration of smartphones
and the internet, rural consumers are aware and knowledgeable about brands and products.
These consumers demand high-quality products that help them live on a par with their urban
counterparts. According to Kearney India Retail Index, with the increasing use of mobile
phones and availability of the internet, the rural markets have been uplifted.
4As of rural marketing
The 4Ps of marketing are a standard for marketing strategy. But rural marketing needs
something different — these are the 4As — acceptability, affordability, availability, and
awareness. For any company to be successful in rural India, an adequate mix of the 4As is
necessary.

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Acceptability
Products designed for urban consumers may not be suitable for rural customers. It is
important to ensure acceptability. Rural customers demand products with high utility value
and convenience to use. In smaller villages, the demand is for products that help save
money and effort. Godrej Consumer Products, for example, created acceptability for their
range by showcasing the products at rural haats , melas , and religious gatherings.
Nestlé introduced several products specific to rural India to gain acceptability among
customers. These include Maggi Fried rice masalas, paneer masala mix, and Nestlé
Ceremeal Daliya.
Affordability
When the income of average Indians is considered, people in the rural areas earn less than
half their urban counterparts do. In 2019, the government’s estimates of per capita income in
terms of Net Value showed that urban per capita income was ₹98,435, whereas in the rural
areas it was ₹40,925.
It is the foremost requirement that all products and services designed for rural areas are
affordable. At the same time, the rural population needs products of high quality, so it is
necessary to design products that are value-adding for rural consumers. They prefer smaller
packs as they are more affordable.
This has led to the proliferation of sachet packaging in India. Coca-Cola introduced 200 ml
PET bottles priced at ₹5 to push the beverage into the market. Nestlé too has been bringing
in some products like Maggi and a few types of chocolate in smaller quantities priced low, to
make them affordable.
Availability
India has over six lakh villages, spread out across the country. Over a quarter of these
villages are not connected through all-weather roads. It is important for FMCG companies to
make their products available in the hinterland if they want to take advantage of the demand
there. The last-mile distribution is, however, a challenge in India. FMCG major HUL
addressed it through its ‘Project Shakti’. Nestlé is available in nearly 90,000 villages, which
still left a lot of villages uncovered.
The company could consider replicating the highly popular até Você door-to-door
micro-distribution system that it has successfully used in Brazil. In this system, distributors
and resellers from the local community sell Nestlé products in their neighbourhoods. Though
Nestlé used this system in the urban markets of Brazil, a similar programme can be
envisaged to reach the rural population in India.
Awareness
While literacy levels are lower in rural areas than in urban areas, growing internet adoption
has made it easy to reach people and create awareness. At the same time, marketers may
find it difficult to cater to the rural population as most of the advertisements in the country are
urban-centric. The fact that languages and dialects change every few miles makes it
important for FMCG companies like Nestlé to come up with specific programmes for the rural
population.
One unique awareness-building programme started by HUL to reach consumers in the rural
hinterland was a free mobile radio service called ‘Kan Khajura Tesan’. This mobile-based,
on-demand entertainment initiative was launched in Bihar. Through this service, customers

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could listen to songs, dialogues from popular movies, jokes and poetry in Hindi and Bhojpuri
by calling a particular number. These programmes were interlaced with advertisements for
HUL products.

(Faria Zafar is Associate Consultant, and Indu Perepu is Research Faculty, at IBS Case
Research Center, Hyderabad.)
Article 4:

‘India is a Powerhouse, Brings in Close to€6-b Sales for Unilever’

Country will be beacon of digital innovation and is highly profitable, says global chief Jope
Sagar.Malviya@timesgroup.com 08-09-2022
Mumbai : Unilever global chief executive Alan Jope said India is a powerhouse and that the
company had strong growth in the country despite a difficult
environment to reach annual revenues of almost €6 billion. “We saw India with tremendous
volume growth and value growth in not easy circumstances. And it's already closing in on €6
billion of revenue for the company. . . it’s highly, highly profitable,” Jope said during Barclays
Global Consumer Staples Conference.
“An untold story is the amount of digital innovation that's happening in India, how we run our
supply chain, route to market innovation, digital innovation, some of the marketing
programmes that we are doing there. . . and I hope that is what India will be, as it will be a
beacon of digital innovation as well as being a powerhouse commercially. ”
Over the past few years, Hindustan Unilever has innovated across value chains to enable
greater agi-lity, flexibility and efficiency.
For instance, it has set up three nano factories that allow them to produce in batches of
kilograms rather than tonnes and help them with faster product rollouts.
The company is also rolling the same out in other Unilever markets to bring innovation lead
times and costs down. HUL's digitised sales across platforms
including ecommerce channels and internal ordering app Shikhar are more than 20% of its
overall sales. Over 950,000 kirana stores use the Shikhar app to order now, three times
more from about 300,000outlets two years ago.
The maker of Rin and Dove has set up advanced dispatch centres that shrunk its distribution
time by half. In fact, HUL has saved nearly 8% of its annual turnover, or roughly $1 billion,
over the past two years after it tightened supply chain operations and tweaked
manufacturing lines. At HUL's site in Dapada near Silvassa, the innovation time has come
down by 50% and productivity has improved by 800 basis points over the past two years,
becoming India's first FMCG factory to be recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF)
as an ‘Advanced Fourth Industrial Revolution Lighthouse’.
“The company continues to strengthen the key drivers of its success in India over the
last decade, including pioneering the use of technology to generate data and facilitate
decision making, focusing on decentralization and localized strategies based on its
‘Winning in many Indias’ framework, recognizing trends and investing in them early
on, funneling cost savings back into the business; and its strong execution ability,
which has led to a positive momentum in earnings,”said a Motilal Oswal report.

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For Unilever, HUL contributes about 11% or €5. 6 billion to the Anglo-Dutch company's
overall sales versus the US, which accounts for 19% or about €9. 9 billion. Along with China,
these three markets are “highest priority countries” for Unilever, and represented nearly 35%
of the London-headquartered consumer goods multinational’s turnover in 2021.

Article 5:
ITC sees market potential of ₹5 trillion for its FMCG business
21 Jul 2022, 06:12 AM IST
Livemint
ITC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Puri said the company plans to expand
the presence of its homegrown brands in markets outside India (Photo: Mint)
ITC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Puri said the company plans to expand
the presence of its homegrown brands in markets outside India (Photo: Mint)
Hotels to packaged goods company ITC LTd., said its range of FMCG spanning
packaged flour, chips, biscuits and soaps has a substantial headroom to grow—with
an estimated total addressable market potential of ₹5,00,000 crores by 2030
NEW DELHI : Hotels to packaged goods company ITC Ltd., said its range of fast
moving consumer goods spanning packaged flour, chips, biscuits and soaps has a
substantial headroom to grow—with an estimated total addressable market potential
of ₹5,00,000 crores by 2030.
In FY22, the company’s FMCG businesses (excluding cigarettes) recorded segment
revenue of ₹15,994.49 crore up 8.6% over the previous year. The company sells
packaged goods under brands such as Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Bingo, Savlon, and
Yippee among others.
“ITC is today the largest incubator of FMCG brands in India, anchoring competitive
and inclusive value chains in wheat, potato, fruits and vegetables, dairy, aqua,
forestry among others, that empower millions of farmers," ITC’s chairman and
managing director Sanjiv Puri said addressing shareholders at the company’s 111th
annual general meeting on Wednesday.
The carefully selected portfolio, with substantial headroom to grow, is estimated to
have a total addressable market potential of ₹5,00,000 crores by 2030, which is
amongst the highest in the Indian FMCG space, he said.
ITC competes with companies such as Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Nestle India,
Britannia Industries Ltd., among others in India’s packaged consumer goods market.
In FY22, ITC launched 110 products. This includes extension of existing products
into adjacent categories.

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“It also reflects the ITC Next strategy to fortify and scale up our mega brands such as
Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Bingo! and Yippee!, leverage some of these power brands to
address value-added adjacencies and invest in categories of the future. Today,
Aashirvaad which is a strong centre-of-plate brand encompassing a range of staples
has been extended to organic, frozen breads and vermicelli; Sunfeast beyond
Biscuits to Cakes and Savlon to Surface Disinfectant Sprays and so on," Puri added.
Meanwhile, ITC has also made several acquisitions in the last two years including
investments in direct-to-consumer brands.
Value-accretive acquisitions like Sunrise spices and investments in tech-enabled
startups like Mother Sparsh and Mylo, in fast-evolving spaces like mother and
childcare, will provide new vectors to accelerate growth, the company said. “We
continue to incubate new engines of growth to create beachheads in areas that hold
promise for the future," said Puri.
Meanwhile, Puri said the company plans to expand the presence of its homegrown
brands in markets outside India.
“In recent years, we have established distribution arrangements abroad enabling
appreciable progress of exports of ITC’s ‘Proudly Indian’ brands to over 60 countries.
Over time, such exports will make a substantial contribution to the growth of your
company’s value-added FMCG portfolio," Puri said.
Puri also flagged global risks that he said have been accentuated with geo-political
tensions and severe economic stress caused by inflation and supply-side
disruptions.
“The recessionary trends and debt crisis in certain geographies are also of concern
for the global economy. Worsening food and energy security, together with the
growing inequities world-wide, poses new threats to society. Amidst all this, the stark
sustainability challenges continue unabated, with climate change becoming an
existential threat, and livelihood generation a daunting task for nations across the
world," he said.
However, Puri added that Government’s proactive policy measures has led the
country to a path of recovery. “Notwithstanding the global headwinds, the promise of
the India story is still intact and the economy is poised to remain one of the fastest
growing in the world," he said.
While there are near-term challenges, ITC is optimistic about the prospects of the
Indian economy, he said.

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Article 6:

Dabur Set to Enhance Rural Footprint, Invest More in Power Brands

Co keeping close watch on inflationary trends amid market volatility, says new
chairman
Our Bureau 13-08-2022
New Delhi : Packaged consumer goods maker Dabur India chairman Mohit Burman
said these are unprecedented times with economies facing one crisis after another,
while addressing shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Friday.
Mohit Burman was named chairman of the company after Dabur said in a stock
exchange filing that Amit Burman has resigned as the chairman with effect from the
close of working hours of August 10, 2022, adding that Amit Burman will continue as
non-executive director.
“These are unprecedented times with economies facing one crisis after another. As
we slowly recovered from the aftermath of Covid, the world was hit by a
consequential crisis of high inflation, which was further aggravated by the recent
geopolitical events, including the Ukraine war,” the new chairman said.
Mohit Burman was non-executive vice-chairman of Dabur prior to this. The Dabur
board has also approved the appointment of Saket Burman as the non-executive
vice-chairman. Amit had been named chairman of Dabur in 2019. All three are
scions of the Dabur group.
Burman said the company is keeping a close watch on inflationary trends, amid
market volatility and global geopolitical uncertainties. “We are closely monitoring the
emerging situation and will continue to make sustained efforts to drive demand for
our brands by enhancing our rural footprint and ploughing investments behind our
power brands,” Burman said.
Dabur ended the financial year 2021-22 with consolidated revenue of ₹10,889 crore
and net profit of ₹1,824 crore. Burman said the company has recorded its
highest-ever revenue growth in eight years, with consolidated revenue for the year
crossing ₹ 10,000 crore mark for the first time, with an annual growth of 9%.
Two Dabur brands — Meswak and Real Drinks — crossed ₹100 crore in turnover,
and the company
now has 14 brands with an individual turnover of over ₹100 crore each. Burman said
recent months and quarters have seen a “dramatic surge” in inflation, which also

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began hurting consumer sentiments. “We have combated these challenges through
a mix of cost control measures and pricing actions. ”
Dabur’s rural footprint has expanded to around 90,000 villages in 2021-22 and the
company said it plans to take this up to 100,000 villages in the current financial year.
At an overall level, the maker of Real juices and Vatika shampoo directly reaches 1.
3 million outlets and has forecasted the reach to grow to 1. 4 million by the end of
2022-23.

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