Ahmedabad, February 15Driven by the increased adoption of retail purchases through digital platforms, and ability to pass on cost pressures to the consumers, foods major Adani Wilmar Limited (AWL) expects to maintain 6 per cent volume growth for the year 2021-22. This comes at a time when the industry faces challenges of inflationary trends and hammered-down out-of-home consumption due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The Ahmedabad-headquartered commodities major has recorded six per cent volume growth during the third quarter , led by 36 per cent growth in the food and FMCG vertical.

Speaking to BusinessLine, Angshu Mallick, Managing Director and CEO, Adani Wilmar, said that the brand loyalty for 'Fortune' has helped company prevail over the challenging situation.

"We have been able to pass on the price increase to the consumers and consumers have been brand loyal who prefers quality than making a shift," said Mallick.

"Going forward, hopefully, inflationary situation will cool down. Also, the government's move to reduce import duty has started reflecting in the market from October-November. So things are looking better. The January-March quarter will be better than October-December quarter," he added.

Q3 results

Adani Wilmar, which got listed earlier this month, on Monday reported its first financial results for the third quarter ended December 2021. Consolidated revenues for the quarter increased 41 per cent year-on-year to ₹14,379 crore. This is attributed to the increased prices of the commodities. Net profit increased 66 per cent year-on-year to ₹211 crore for the quarter, primarily driven by the higher margins and passing the cost increase to the consumers.

"Overall the performance is more than satisfactory," said Mallick.

"Edible oil prices have surged 40 per cent since last year. Also there have been lockdowns during the course of the year at several places at several points of time. Therefore, this year there is no growth in consumption of edible oil. Still, as a company we expect to maintain our growth at around 6 per cent in edible oil segment. In foods business we have been growing at 22-25 per cent for the past five years. But this year we expect to push it up to 30-35 per cent in spite of the impact on bulk consumption," he said.

Mallick expects growth to come from increased adoption of branded foods. The branded segment forms about 10-12 per cent in the overall market, while 88 per cent is still the loose sale with private labels. "There is a growing shift towards branded foods. Our objecive is to convert people from loose to Fortune label. Our growth rate will be faster," said Mallick adding that the increased penetration of digital B2C platforms with health-conscious consumers will support company's growth prospects through e-commerce sales.

Adani Wilmar shares traded positive on Tuesday at ₹385.25, up 2.35 per cent over previous close on BSE.