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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025

 

By Avishek Rakshit

 

KOLKATA – Tata Consumer Products Ltd. is eyeing to unsettle Hindustan Unilever Ltd. as the country's largest tea retailer by sales volume and reclaim its market leadership, which it lost in 2017-18, Puneet Das, president of the packaged beverages business for India & South Asia of Tata Consumer Products, said Tuesday.

 

Das said that the difference in sales between Tata Consumer Products and Hindustan Unilever is less than 1% in terms of volume and around 4-5% by value.

 

"Nielsen does not capture the e-commerce part of the market share where we are the number one brand, and by a sizable margin. So, that does not get accounted for in market share," Das told mediapersons here while responding to a question from Informist on the sidelines of a press conference. "We go by standard definition, and so we are the number two player."

 

However, on a moving annual total basis, that is used by the consumer goods industry as a fundamental metric, the difference in sales volume between Tata Consumer Products and HUL is 4-5%, Das said. This metric is a rolling sum of sales figures over the previous 12 consecutive months and serves as a continuously updating performance metric, smoothing out short-term fluctuations by adding the new month's data and removing the oldest month's data to provide a consistent, long-term view of sales trends.

 

Das said that Tata Consumer Products has taken a four-pronged strategy to reclaim its market leadership in terms of tea retail sales volume. The strategy involves expanding its rural distribution base, enhancing price competitiveness in regions where it is weaker than HUL, such as in southern India, further premiumising the portfolio, and adding innovative products to its portfolio.

 

"We will expand our rural distribution. We want to ensure that we are competitive in markets where we are number two. We want to premiumise the portfolio and leverage our brands like Tata Tea Gold in markets outside east (India). And we want to unlock market growth through innovations," Das said.

 

Currently, the company's products, which include coffee, salt, pulses, beverages, and others apart from tea, reach over 275 million households in India via 4.4 million retail outlets.

 

Das said that the company is continuously focused on expanding its distribution reach and is also banking on the traditional distribution channels like grocery stores to increase sales of Tata Tea Gold – its most premium product, which is largely sold via online platforms.

 

The company is also regionalising its products and brands to gain market share. For instance, it launched a brand extension of its Agni brand of tea – Tata Tea Agni Extra Josh, specifically targeted towards the local palette of Uttar Pradesh.

 

"In south (India) a lot of the regional brands operate. For example, for years, we were not operating in the leaf segment. So, we have launched some variants over there. For example, with our brand called Tata Tea Gemini, we are the number one player in Telangana. But in Andhra Pradesh, we have Chakra Gold, which is a distant number two," Das said.

 

While Tata Tea has a strong market presence in north and east India, HUL is stronger in south India. On average, southern India consumes pricier tea than the rest of the country, which gives HUL leadership both in terms of sales volume and value, Das said.

 

Tuesday, shares of Tata Consumer Products closed 1.0% lower at INR 1,092.10 and shares of HUL ended 0.1% lower at INR 2,580.90 on the National Stock Exchange. End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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