Marico on course to deliver double-digit constant currency growth in international business: Saugata Gupta

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO, Marico, says “we have lost market share in the bottom of the pyramid segment in value-added hair oils, where there has been significant competitive intensity. Otherwise, in most of the categories, we have gained market share. What is also heartening is that we have continued to grow in our core brands as well as food, Parachute and all and also the premium part of value-added hair oils.”

The commentary around rural recovery is gaining ground. What has been your reading with respect to how things are on the ground right now, especially on the rural front?
Saugata Gupta: Last year, it was a combination of two factors. Obviously, rural demand was stressed. The premium part of the portfolio continued to grow. Having said that, we also saw a little bit of moderation in urban growth towards the second half of the year. What we now see is a slight uptick in rural growth towards the end of the quarter. The second thing which also happened is, at least in our portfolio, there was a lot of deflation in pricing that happened, a combination of price drops we took on Parachute and Saffola, as well as significant shrinkflation that happened in the value-added hair oils portfolio.

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This year, we have already started the quarter with a 6% increase in Parachute because of a