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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026

 

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--Eveready Ind CEO: To focus on premiumisation, pdt segmentation going ahead
--CONTEXT: Eveready Ind CEO Banerjee's comments in interview with Informist
--Eveready Ind CEO: Target 50% revenue from premium sales in next 24-30 mos
--Eveready Ind: To launch new pdts that can be sold by current sale channels
--Eveready Ind CEO: Want users to shift to alkaline cells, keeping prices low
--Eveready Ind CEO: No significant capex plan for next 2 yrs
--Eveready Ind CEO: Will focus on increasing mkt shr in alkaline cells
--Eveready Ind CEO: Aim 50% mkt shr in alkaline cells from current 16-17%
--Eveready: To focus on backward vendor integration for alkaline cell plant
--Eveready Ind CEO: To roll out pdts to stay relevant among young consumers
--Eveready Ind: Battery mkt growth largely depends on fast gadget adoption

 

By Avishek Rakshit

 

KOLKATA – Eveready Industries India Ltd., which recently commissioned the first alkaline battery manufacturing plant of South Asia, is stepping up its premiumisation game. It comes at a time when the company is witnessing moderation in battery volumes in the zinc carbon segment where it is the market leader. While the company registered only 1% on-year growth in its sales volumes in the zinc carbon segment in the June quarter, sales volume of alkaline batteries increased 48% on year in the quarter. However, despite the moderation in its core sales volumes, the company reported a 9% on-year increase in its revenues in the June quarter.

 

At a time when digital gadgets' adoption is on the rise in the country, Eveready is bullish on the emerging consumer trends where premium zinc carbon and alkaline batteries are finding traction with urban consumers. Although sales volume growth of batteries in the coming years will largely depend on electronics companies' ability to roll out new gadgets which are battery-powered and their adoption by consumers, Eveready is preparing to derive the maximum possible revenue from such sales.

 

"Battery penetration in India is very high; it is as high as clock penetration in India. We are an ingredient; you can't blame the battery segment for not growing. You have to blame the other guy (gadget makers) because if the other guy grows, there is no chance that battery will not grow; because he (gadgets) won't work without battery," Anirban Banerjee, chief executive officer at Eveready Industries, told Informist in an exclusive interview. 

 

While Banerjee feels that the current demand conditions for batteries are "fairly okay" at the moment, value growth is definitely occurring, which explains why Eveready posted a 9% revenue growth despite only 1% volume growth in its core zinc carbon battery operations. Eveready is the country's largest dry-cell company, having more than 50% market share in the over 2.75 billion unit strong battery space. 

 

Asked about his take on the industry growth trends for the current financial year, which will largely influence Eveready's performance as well, Banerjee said, "Let us say, in the higher single digits from a value perspective, and let us say, much lower single digits on a volume perspective."

 

Although battery penetration in India is very high at over 85% households using some variant of dry-cell or other, which leaves little headroom for growth, Banerjee, however, sees scope for further growth and premiumisation.

 

"The number of devices per household will increase, which typically will be higher for urban and lesser for rural. Now, the rate at which battery will grow will be determined by the rate at which the penetration of some of the urban devices are going to happen," Banerjee said. "Post COVID-19, there is a lot of health and wellness sensitivity in India. So, there is a lot of people (who) have adopted blood pressure machines, people have adopted glucometers etc. and medical devices adoption at home has gone up. While battery consumption has gone up, more than battery consumption, battery premiumisation has gone up," he explained. 

 

While continuing to focus on its premiumisation play, Eveready is also entering new product categories. Under its previous owners, the Williamson Magor Group, Eveready tested waters with appliances, candy, tea, and lighting products. After the company changed hands in July 2022 when the Burman family of Dabur India Ltd. took over ownership, it expanded the lighting portfolio while tea and appliances businesses have limited span of operations. However, the company started exploring foray into new product categories which can be sold by its existing sales network. At the same time, such products which Eveready is diversifying into, will also need to be relevant to the younger generation. 

 

"If you can expand and you connect better with the next generation, they see your relevance. Our fathers saw a lot of batteries and they were happy with it. The next generation will see that someone who is anchored and is able to give many more products, etc., so that in the future," Banerjee explained. 

 

After launching mosquito rackets, Eveready has launched wireless portable mobile chargers, rechargeable battery operated mosquito repellents, high beam torches which make high-pitched sound when needed, and other products. It also launched emergency bulbs which operate via batteries without the need for electricity and comes handy during power cuts and in areas with limited electricity availability.

 

"So, for the time being, this adjacency business is going to be focused on lighting, home care, where we have recently stepped into. Let's see how this works out and how it scales up first," Banerjee said.  

 

Following are the edited excerpts from the interview where Banerjee speaks about Eveready's journey ahead. 

 

Q. Considering the rate of adoption of gadgets, what kind of growth do you see for the company over the next three years?

A. I think that it will be premature to talk about in terms of what we see ourselves in the next three years, but what is important to see is what have we seen ourselves in the last three years. 

 

In the last couple of quarters, we have been close to 9-10% kind of growth. That is also to do with saying that while premiumisation is happening, the quantum of batteries is not going to substantially jump.

 

If one buys an alkaline battery and it's going to serve him three times longer than the zinc carbon battery, there is bound to be an internal cannibalisation. At the moment, it's too early to see that.

 

So, old devices are still in the house, but there is a better choice of batteries and people are unfolding to them. But, better choice of batteries means lesser battery because better choice batteries are three times more powerful than the normal ones. 

 

Should you want batteries for kid's toys or for your dad's blood pressure machine, ensure that you take my Ultima (Eveready's alkaline battery brand priced at a premium) because that's the one that will power up those devices. That's the segmentation slowly that will come in a low involvement category.

 

Q. So premiumisation and segmentation are the way forward for Eveready, given the market conditions?

A. Premiumisation is kind of automatic. But at the same time, the number of times that you are replacing batteries might come down over a period of time but again it's in a state of flux and depends on what is the acceleration in the market. 

 

Now suppose tomorrow the battery-operated toothbrush market in India goes up five times, the battery cycle starts moving up. If the penetration of the blood pressure devices increases, so will the use of batteries. 

 

Q. You are mostly referring to alkaline batteries when talking about premiumisation, but isn't premium pricing possible in your zinc carbon portfolio as well?

A. Three years back, when 95% of our portfolio was zinc carbon, we had products which catered to 75% of the premium portfolio, and it continues to be. The famous red batteries, for which Eveready is known, is currently priced at INR 20 a piece and our alkalines are priced at INR 25.

 

Alkalines should be priced much higher, but today pricing is competitive because we essentially want zinc carbon battery users to move into alkaline and that will happen at a slower pace.

 

To answer the question, premiumisation will be driven by alkaline. We are solid in the zinc carbon premium battery category and we will hold on to it.

 

Q. What percentage of your total portfolio currently comprises premium products and where do you intend to take it in the coming years?

A. By value, our premium zinc batteries and alkaline together will be close to about 35-40% of the revenue. But in the next 24-30 months, because of the rising saliency of alkaline battery sales, it is bound to move towards 50%. 

 

But our premiumisation journey is not only restricted to the batteries. We have done a lot of premiumisation even in the flashlights segment.

 

Q. What is your market share in the alkaline battery segment, and where do you want to take it to this financial year given that you have commissioned the alkaline battery manufacturing plant?

A. Over the last 30 odd months, we have been able to garner about 16-17% share. In this current trajectory, I expect that by the time we exit this year, probably we will close at about 20% market share. Going ahead, you can assume 4-5?lta year-on-year, but that is wishful. But I think that if we have the capacity, if we have the correct product at the correct time and the correct place, then it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Q. You are targeting 50% market share in alkaline battery segment. By when do you think it will be possible?

A. I don't think we have stated targets, but I do have a target to get the fair share of whatever it is, even in the alkaline segment. And that share should be at about a 50% level. But it is difficult to predict now that in what time period we will reach 50% market share.

 

Q. This financial year and in the coming few years, are you in need for further capex or debt clearances going to be your priority?

A. My debt equity ratio is good below 0.5% and in fact, we have brought down debt. For capex, we have just invested INR 2 billion in the Jammu plant (alkaline battery plant) and we will live with that for the moment. With an eye over the next two decades, this is an investment which will come very handy and important for India's largest battery company to continue its presence in the more than 250 million households.

 

For the next 24 months, the focus will be to bring up market share in alkaline batteries, improve capacity utilisation, backward domestic vendor development of some of the raw materials, and optimising alkaline battery production for better margin efficiencies and sourcing.

 

Q. You have been diversifying your portfolio for some time now. What are the categories you target to enter?

A. Diversification is a big word. Our strategy is about expansion into relevant categories, which has the essence of the brand and can straddle the sales channels that we are dominating.

 

We need to be innovative. One is to get into a category and use the existing market dynamics, the other is to get into a category and provide some differentiation. For people, Gen Z's, netizens to be able to talk about the company is phenomenal. 

 

Q. Is entering relevant categories a strategy to derisk the company from freezing battery sales only or primarily to open new revenue channels?

A. We have invested INR 2 billion to set up the alkaline battery plant and that investment is larger than any other investment we made. That investment was made because we see the battery business expanding through premiumisation. Over the next two decades, the penetration of battery using devices in some of the Indian households is going to go up and, hence, there is no risk to the battery business.

 

If battery business in India was at risk, then world over, battery businesses would have been at risk. Battery is still the core business of companies which have been there for the past four-seven decades. 

 

Entering new categories is an opportunity that I want to tap. Those consumers who have been using Eveready battery for decades without any issues will believe in our new products when we launch them backed by innovation. If we can expand and connect better with the next generation, we stay relevant.

 

Now, if that in essence brings down the share of batteries, so what? Something (some new product sales) else is going up faster, and it's keeping us relevant, it's keeping our imagery up.

 

Q. So, will you launch only those products which can be catered via your existing sales channels, or you will enter categories where you will need to set up new sales channels?

A. Aspirations can be many.

 

But in the next 12 to 24 months, I will want to consolidate my channels. I have entrenched fixed costs, and I will capitalise on them to ensure my EBITDA lines are strong and holding.

 

We have just stepped into the home care vertical. Let's see how this goes and how it scales up. Now, let's say by the end of the next financial year, if home care starts giving me INR 100 crores (INR 1 billion), it is good, because it's coming from my current fixed cost which has now plateaued.  End

 

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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