/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179308752520622184.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179312252680382108.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179311006349086588.webp)
What is the story about?
The Mumbai-based fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, Tata Consumer Products Ltd., is expanding its presence in the health and wellness segment with plans to enter functional foods and nutraceuticals, while preparing to launch its protein water offering, according to Sunil D'Souza, Managing Director & CEO of Tata Consumer Products.
The company expects the new categories to strengthen its growth portfolio over the coming quarters. D'Souza said Tata Consumer remains committed to growing its high-growth businesses at over 30% over time, while continuing to introduce new products.
D'Souza said Tata Consumer's protein water product is ready but has been delayed to complete quality checks before commercial launch.
The company's growth portfolio expanded 47% in the latest July-September 2026 quarter, supported by strong demand for dry fruits and cold-pressed oils. However, D'Souza said the core growth portfolio—including pulses, poha and makhana—continues to grow at around 30%, and that remains the company's long-term target.
D'Souza also reiterated the company's outlook for its recent acquisitions, Capital Foods and Organic India, expecting both businesses to deliver 25-30% growth.
[faq type="interview" title="This is an edited transcript of the interview."][ques][/ques][ans][/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]It's a strong set of numbers you've delivered. But what is exciting is, you know, the prospects of the second half, as you pointed out in the conference call yesterday as well. I was doing some numbers, and it appears that this year you could cross ₹22,500 crore to ₹23,000 crore on the topline. Is that a possibility with nearly 15% margins for the full year?[/ques][ans]You're absolutely right. We've had a good quarter so far, and we're looking forward to continued acceleration from here. All parts of the business are doing well. Tea, we're holding share. Salt, we've shown volume growth despite taking a price increase. The growth part of the portfolio has delivered 47% growth, and margins are expanding. International business has delivered strong mid-single-digit growth and expansion of margins. The good part is, we're just getting started. We'll continue to grow in the second half. We're seeing continued growth in salt. The growth portfolio keeps going from strength to strength. A bit of the heatwave, which impacted us, especially in the UK, will be behind us in the second half, and coffee prices in the US are starting to settle down. So, we feel pretty confident going into the second half. Whether we end up at ₹22,500 crore or ₹23,000 crore, your guess is as good as mine. But we will have strong double-digit growth on the top line, and we've always guided for a bit of margin expansion.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]So, we're not too far off from the ₹22,500 crore to ₹23,000 crore expectation on the top line with 15% margins, right?[/ques][ans]Quite close to that, I would say, in the ballpark.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]How have tea prices behaved? If you could give us the outlook in terms of revenue and volumes, as well as the margin expansion you're hinting at. So, let's focus just on tea.[/ques][ans]So, let me explain tea overall. In the first quarter, if you look at the volume-value gap, volume was up 2% and value was down 4%, a 6% gap. Last quarter, we raised prices, and volume was flat while value was down 1%. Right now, as we enter this quarter, value is starting to overtake volume, and there are two reasons for that. Number one is that as we came into the year, we had expected tea prices to come down, and we had been giving up pricing. But unfortunately, two things happened this year. One, on the demand side, with the heat continuing and the monsoon being deficient, we saw a bit of a shortfall. And on the crop side, because of the El Niño effect, there was a little bit of a shortfall, especially at the lower end of the crop, and that's why we had to take up pricing. All in all, most of that correction is behind us. In the second half, we will see low-digit to mid-single-digit volume growth, and we've taken up pricing. All the pricing is still not reflected in the numbers, and therefore there'll be margin expansion as well. So, we remain quite confident. And the good news is that share has held up. We've had a couple of launches, especially on the premium end. We've launched Chakra Select down in the South. We've launched Kanan Devan Gold down in the South. We've also launched Gold Reserve in multiple parts of the country, taking premium up by one level.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]It's good to know that you've held share, and you expect low- to mid-single-digit volume growth, along with some element of pricing growth as well. That makes it mid- to high-single-digit revenue growth in the second half. I just wanted to understand a couple of pointers from your growth portfolio. We've been speaking since the time you said that your aspiration was to take the growth portfolio to 30% and grow consistently at over 30% as well. For the last two quarters, your growth portfolio has contributed over 35%, now closer to 40%, and it has also grown upwards of 40%. So, do you want to revise that growth portfolio target, or maybe define another portfolio that qualifies as super growth?[/ques][ans]So, let me answer it in two parts. I think a large part of the growth in the base part of the portfolio, which we had about two years back—pulses, poha, makhana—is growing about 30%. The surge to 47% last quarter has been driven by our dry fruits and cold-pressed oils, but we'll be starting to cycle that very soon. So that's why we remain focused on the 30%. But to your point, we will be adding two new categories this quarter. One is what I call functional foods, the whole story of protein, fibre, etc. And the second piece is we're entering nutraceuticals as well. Those will also add to the growth portfolio. So, we'll continue to deliver 30% plus over a period of time. Frankly speaking, I would have loved to say that I had launched the protein portfolio last quarter, but unfortunately, the protein water we've developed is still in quarantine to make sure quality is up to the mark, and we'll be launching it very soon.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]Protein water will be an interesting one. So, is that the next ₹1,000-crore category for you? Because dry fruits and cold-pressed oils have done that already. And now that you've spoken about the core part of the growth portfolio, can we expect this part itself to grow upwards of 40%? Because the core is growing at 30%, and then there are additions coming in from new categories every time.[/ques][ans]No, so overall, we will keep bringing in new products, especially from a margin expansion perspective, for the growth portfolio to continue to grow at 30%. So, I'm happy if we exceed 30%, but I would keep the guidance at 30%.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]Capital Foods and Organic India have hit around ₹500 crore, right? What's the trajectory there?[/ques][ans]Both Capital Foods and Organic India—we've always guided for 25% to 30% growth, and we remain confident about that. Last quarter, if you put both together, we grew 24% in India. We had a bit of a hiccup internationally with shipping and port disruptions, but from this quarter onwards, we should be back to normal. So, between segmented distribution in India, innovation, and expanding the portfolio globally, we're in a pretty good place.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]It's been a while since you made an acquisition. The last ones were Organic India and Capital Foods. You had a bunch of others as well, including Soulfull. Now, with all of this having been baked in, is there enough appetite for another acquisition, or will you hold out?[/ques][ans]A couple of things. We've always maintained that we'll grow organically and inorganically. I'm sitting on about ₹1,800 crore of cash. There are a few businesses out there in the market. But I've always said that what's for sale we don't like, and what we like is not for sale. As and when we find the right piece, which will fit into our portfolio and create value for us, we will not hesitate. But as of now, there is nothing. However, we keep our eyes wide open.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]Please tell us what you like, even if it's not for sale.[/ques][ans]So, let me put it this way: in the food and beverage space, we are moving further into the health, wellness and functional foods portfolio. So, if there is something that comes up that is of interest, we'll definitely look at it closely.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]And your own innovations—the target of 8-10% of sales from innovations—that target continues?[/ques][ans]We had always maintained 5%. We've delivered 3.5% last quarter. We launched 22 new products in 12 weeks. So, we will continue that pace. So, 5% is the aspiration.[/ans][/faq]
For the full interview, watch the accompanying video
Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here
The company expects the new categories to strengthen its growth portfolio over the coming quarters. D'Souza said Tata Consumer remains committed to growing its high-growth businesses at over 30% over time, while continuing to introduce new products.
D'Souza said Tata Consumer's protein water product is ready but has been delayed to complete quality checks before commercial launch.
Tata Consumer shares were trading at ₹981.75 as of 11:12 am on the NSE. The company, which has a current market capitalisation of ₹97,133.91 crore, has seen its shares decline more than 16% over the last year.
The company's growth portfolio expanded 47% in the latest July-September 2026 quarter, supported by strong demand for dry fruits and cold-pressed oils. However, D'Souza said the core growth portfolio—including pulses, poha and makhana—continues to grow at around 30%, and that remains the company's long-term target.
D'Souza also reiterated the company's outlook for its recent acquisitions, Capital Foods and Organic India, expecting both businesses to deliver 25-30% growth.
[faq type="interview" title="This is an edited transcript of the interview."][ques][/ques][ans][/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]It's a strong set of numbers you've delivered. But what is exciting is, you know, the prospects of the second half, as you pointed out in the conference call yesterday as well. I was doing some numbers, and it appears that this year you could cross ₹22,500 crore to ₹23,000 crore on the topline. Is that a possibility with nearly 15% margins for the full year?[/ques][ans]You're absolutely right. We've had a good quarter so far, and we're looking forward to continued acceleration from here. All parts of the business are doing well. Tea, we're holding share. Salt, we've shown volume growth despite taking a price increase. The growth part of the portfolio has delivered 47% growth, and margins are expanding. International business has delivered strong mid-single-digit growth and expansion of margins. The good part is, we're just getting started. We'll continue to grow in the second half. We're seeing continued growth in salt. The growth portfolio keeps going from strength to strength. A bit of the heatwave, which impacted us, especially in the UK, will be behind us in the second half, and coffee prices in the US are starting to settle down. So, we feel pretty confident going into the second half. Whether we end up at ₹22,500 crore or ₹23,000 crore, your guess is as good as mine. But we will have strong double-digit growth on the top line, and we've always guided for a bit of margin expansion.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]So, we're not too far off from the ₹22,500 crore to ₹23,000 crore expectation on the top line with 15% margins, right?[/ques][ans]Quite close to that, I would say, in the ballpark.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]How have tea prices behaved? If you could give us the outlook in terms of revenue and volumes, as well as the margin expansion you're hinting at. So, let's focus just on tea.[/ques][ans]So, let me explain tea overall. In the first quarter, if you look at the volume-value gap, volume was up 2% and value was down 4%, a 6% gap. Last quarter, we raised prices, and volume was flat while value was down 1%. Right now, as we enter this quarter, value is starting to overtake volume, and there are two reasons for that. Number one is that as we came into the year, we had expected tea prices to come down, and we had been giving up pricing. But unfortunately, two things happened this year. One, on the demand side, with the heat continuing and the monsoon being deficient, we saw a bit of a shortfall. And on the crop side, because of the El Niño effect, there was a little bit of a shortfall, especially at the lower end of the crop, and that's why we had to take up pricing. All in all, most of that correction is behind us. In the second half, we will see low-digit to mid-single-digit volume growth, and we've taken up pricing. All the pricing is still not reflected in the numbers, and therefore there'll be margin expansion as well. So, we remain quite confident. And the good news is that share has held up. We've had a couple of launches, especially on the premium end. We've launched Chakra Select down in the South. We've launched Kanan Devan Gold down in the South. We've also launched Gold Reserve in multiple parts of the country, taking premium up by one level.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]It's good to know that you've held share, and you expect low- to mid-single-digit volume growth, along with some element of pricing growth as well. That makes it mid- to high-single-digit revenue growth in the second half. I just wanted to understand a couple of pointers from your growth portfolio. We've been speaking since the time you said that your aspiration was to take the growth portfolio to 30% and grow consistently at over 30% as well. For the last two quarters, your growth portfolio has contributed over 35%, now closer to 40%, and it has also grown upwards of 40%. So, do you want to revise that growth portfolio target, or maybe define another portfolio that qualifies as super growth?[/ques][ans]So, let me answer it in two parts. I think a large part of the growth in the base part of the portfolio, which we had about two years back—pulses, poha, makhana—is growing about 30%. The surge to 47% last quarter has been driven by our dry fruits and cold-pressed oils, but we'll be starting to cycle that very soon. So that's why we remain focused on the 30%. But to your point, we will be adding two new categories this quarter. One is what I call functional foods, the whole story of protein, fibre, etc. And the second piece is we're entering nutraceuticals as well. Those will also add to the growth portfolio. So, we'll continue to deliver 30% plus over a period of time. Frankly speaking, I would have loved to say that I had launched the protein portfolio last quarter, but unfortunately, the protein water we've developed is still in quarantine to make sure quality is up to the mark, and we'll be launching it very soon.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]Protein water will be an interesting one. So, is that the next ₹1,000-crore category for you? Because dry fruits and cold-pressed oils have done that already. And now that you've spoken about the core part of the growth portfolio, can we expect this part itself to grow upwards of 40%? Because the core is growing at 30%, and then there are additions coming in from new categories every time.[/ques][ans]No, so overall, we will keep bringing in new products, especially from a margin expansion perspective, for the growth portfolio to continue to grow at 30%. So, I'm happy if we exceed 30%, but I would keep the guidance at 30%.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]Capital Foods and Organic India have hit around ₹500 crore, right? What's the trajectory there?[/ques][ans]Both Capital Foods and Organic India—we've always guided for 25% to 30% growth, and we remain confident about that. Last quarter, if you put both together, we grew 24% in India. We had a bit of a hiccup internationally with shipping and port disruptions, but from this quarter onwards, we should be back to normal. So, between segmented distribution in India, innovation, and expanding the portfolio globally, we're in a pretty good place.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]It's been a while since you made an acquisition. The last ones were Organic India and Capital Foods. You had a bunch of others as well, including Soulfull. Now, with all of this having been baked in, is there enough appetite for another acquisition, or will you hold out?[/ques][ans]A couple of things. We've always maintained that we'll grow organically and inorganically. I'm sitting on about ₹1,800 crore of cash. There are a few businesses out there in the market. But I've always said that what's for sale we don't like, and what we like is not for sale. As and when we find the right piece, which will fit into our portfolio and create value for us, we will not hesitate. But as of now, there is nothing. However, we keep our eyes wide open.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]Please tell us what you like, even if it's not for sale.[/ques][ans]So, let me put it this way: in the food and beverage space, we are moving further into the health, wellness and functional foods portfolio. So, if there is something that comes up that is of interest, we'll definitely look at it closely.[/ans][/faq][faq type="interview"][ques]And your own innovations—the target of 8-10% of sales from innovations—that target continues?[/ques][ans]We had always maintained 5%. We've delivered 3.5% last quarter. We launched 22 new products in 12 weeks. So, we will continue that pace. So, 5% is the aspiration.[/ans][/faq]
For the full interview, watch the accompanying video
Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179320007763043519.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179317752918716306.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179308503715932417.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179301766938244712.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179302008084628335.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179306752352745259.webp)
