Dabur India reported consolidated net profit of ₹440.3 crore in the quarter ended June 30, a marginal increase over ₹437.3 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Consolidated revenue from operations grew 8.07 per cent to ₹2,822.43 crore in the quarter under review.

Dabur said its India FMCG business reported a volume growth of 5 per cent y-o-y on a high base and revenue growth was seen despite significant inflationary pressures in the first quarter.

Mohit Malhotra, CEO, Dabur India, said despite macro-economic headwinds, the company reported profitable growth as it remained focused on rolling out innovations to expand the total addressable market.

Speaking at an earnings call, Malhotra said the company took price hikes in the range of 6-6.5 per cent, including grammage reductions in smaller packs, in the face of inflationary levels seen at 9-10 per cent. He added that inflationary pressures may remain unabated in the second quarter but some softening is expected to be seen from the third quarter onwards.

Malhotra pointed out that while consumption remained stressed due to high inflation, both “rural and urban demand growth was at par” for Dabur. “Due to our ahead-of-the-curve investments in expanding our distribution footprint in villages, for us rural has done relatively better (compared to market syndicated data). But off-late, demand compression has been observed in rural India as the impact of inflation is much higher in rural than urban region. Therefore volumes are also getting compressed,” he said.

“Though, in the medium term, on the back of normal monsoons, MSP increases, infrastructure expansion and government’s schemes  among others, we expect rural markets to bounce back quickly,” Malhotra added.

Meanwhile, the company pointed out that urban demand growth was driven by recovery seen in new-age channels such as Modern Trade stores.

Category Growth

The FMCG major said its food and beverage business witnessed strong growth in the first quarter led by a 51 per cent surge in beverage business. The Home Care business was up 52 per cent , while the Skin & Salon business reported a 11.4 per cent rise. The Oral Care business ended the quarter with a 12.5 per cent growth. Sustained demand for Hajmola and PudinHara helped the Digestives business clock a growth of 31 per cent in the quarter, it added.

“Despite the consumption slowdown and shrinkage in overall demand,Dabur reported market share gains across 98 per cent of its portfolio,” the statement added. This includes juices and nectars, Chyawanprash and hair oils.

“Dabur’s International Business reported an 8 per cent jump in Constant Currency terms, led by strong growths in Turkey, Sub-Saharan Africa , Nepal and Egypt,” it added.

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