Marico aims double-digit growth in India biz from next quarter: Saugata Gupta, MD

Home-grown FMCG maker Marico expects to deliver double-digit growth in the next one or two quarters in the domestic market, helped by its core franchises and expansion of new businesses, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Saugata Gupta said.

The company, which reported a 9 per cent rise in domestic volumes, now aims for a revenue growth of around 25 per cent this year, led by pricing actions, Gupta told PTI.

"As far as overall revenue is concerned, we should be able to deliver in the mid-20s to around 25 per cent this year, given the pricing initiation," he said.

Marico, which owns brands like Saffola, Parachute, and Livon, has "consistently improved volumes in sequential terms, Gupta added.

"This (June) quarter, India Volume growth was up 9 per cent. So, high single-digit volume growth is possibly a base case for us. We will attempt to deliver double-digit growth in one or two quarters, which would be a great thing to do," he noted.

While for its international business, it is "confident" of delivering a growth in mid-teens, based on constant currency this fiscal, said Gupta.

Overall, the FMCG industry will be able to record better volume growth in the current fiscal year than FY25, led by a sequential improvement in urban demand, along with steady expansion in the rural market, the chief executive said.

The urban demand at the mass-end may have been constrained, but at the premium end, it continues to be good, especially with e-commerce and quick commerce growing.

The current rural growth is higher and demand is steady, led by a combination of increased MSP (Minimum Support Price), better monsoon, and overall government initiatives. However, urban demand is also improving gradually, helped by factors such as softening of inflation, especially food inflation.

"The gradual improvement is also going to be a function of wage increases in the long term. This year, we also expect the tax break (Income Tax benefits) to have a positive impact. We anticipate urban demand to gradually improve in subsequent quarters," he noted.

The process of volume-led growth has already been started in the June quarter of FY26, said Gupta.

"If you look at this Q1, there is an improvement. And as we go towards Q2 and further ahead in FY25-FY26, the overall volume growth is expected to be better than FY24-FY25," he said.

In the June quarter, several listed FMCG companies like HUL and Dabur have said rural markets are outperforming urban markets in terms of growth for over five consecutive quarters. However, urban markets have also improved sequentially.

"I think the FMCG sector this year will be able to post better volumes than what it had posted last year," Gupta pointed out.

In FY25, Marico has crossed the milestone of becoming a Rs 10,000 crore revenue company, and now, it targets to be a Rs 20,000 crore company by 2030 by growing its revenue two-fold over the next five years.