Informist, Monday, Dec 11, 2023

--Colgate India MD: Category development will drive volume growth 

--CONTEXT: Colgate India MD Narasimhan at CII FMCG Summit
--HUL Subramanian: Fundamentals, innovation to aid FMCG volume recovery 
--Dabur CEO: Inflation has held back innovation in FMCG sector  
--HUL Subramanian: Product mix-led growth is underleveraged in India 
--Marico India MD: Good scope for growth in food, beauty, personal care 
--L'Oreal Kaushik: See huge opportunity in beauty segment in India

MUMBAI – Innovation in product mix, core category development along with strong industry fundamentals will lead to the much-awaited recovery in volume growth for the fast-moving consumer goods industry, some top company leaders said at the Confederation of Indian Industry's FMCG Summit today. 

"We're already around the corner, and volume growth should start," Mohit Malhotra, chief executive officer of Dabur India Ltd, said pointing out that most industry headwinds such as high inflation, higher raw material costs, and a weak monsoon are behind.

"As long as the fundamentals are strong, and the innovation rate goes up, those who do that will get their volumes back soon," Deepak Subramanian, executive director of Home Care at Hindustan Unilever Ltd said. "(Product) mix-led growth is under leveraged. If you get the mix right, ROI (return on investment) is assured," said Subramanian.

Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd's managing director Prabha Narasimhan believes that developing core categories will drive volumes. Narasimhan also said companies have been guilty of "lazy innovation", wherein simply changing the colour of the packaging, or a new flavour is put forth as innovation. 

Among categories, beauty, personal care, and food are categories that have better growth opportunities compared to other segments, according to Aseem Kaushik, L'Oreal India's country managing director and Saugata Gupta, managing director of Marico India Ltd.

Today, shares of Colgate Palmolive closed 0.3% lower at 2,286.40 rupees and shares of Hindustan Unilever ended 0.7% lower at 2,503.65 rupees on the National Stock Exchange. Shares of Marico closed 1.9% higher at 540.65 rupees and Dabur India ended 0.6% higher at 550.50 rupees. End

Reported by Akshata Gorde and Darshan Nakhwa

Edited by Vidhi Verma

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