Beyond tea and salt: How Sunil D’Souza plans to spice up Tata’s FMCG pie
₹13,783 crores, up 11% over the year ago. Profit jumped 30% to ₹1,320 crore, according to its annual filings. In December 2019, TCPL’s shares were trading at about ₹318 apiece.
It closed at ₹1,116.25 on 5 April this year. In other words, a gain of over 250%. While brands such as Tata Salt and Tata Tea have held a strong sway over Indian households for decades, TCPL has now entered new segments, everything from honey and cold-pressed oils to cereals and plant-based meat meals.
Recently, it made two large acquisitions—Capital Foods (owner of the Ching’s Secret packaged noodles) and Organic India (organic teas and health foods). The company, in short, has moved away from just a beverages and commodity play to enter snacks and household staples. All this will increase competition in the FMCG market substantially, needling rivals such as Marico, Dabur, ITC, Nestle, Parle Agro and Kellogg’s.
Abneesh Roy, executive director and head of research committee at Nuvama Institutional Equities, a brokerage house, said companies want to capitalize on India’s growing middle class. “In every consumption segment, India will have three-four very serious players," he said. The question is if TCPL can dominate the new segments it wants to compete in.
What are its chances? To understand the company’s strategy, Mint spent an hour with D’Souza at TCPL’s office in Mumbai’s Horniman Circle, a short walk from Bombay House, Tata Group’s iconic headquarters. D’Souza comes across as a man in a hurry. Those who know his working style said he is beyond just a strategic thinker.
He can execute. “He understands how strategy will translate into execution on the ground. He’s also got a very strong bias for action, a trait necessary within the Tata Group,"
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