Volume growth to be in focus as costs cool: Tata Consumer CEO

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₹3,000 crore. Meanwhile, demand in urban markets outperformed rural markets in the December quarter for the tea and salt maker, reflecting a broader trend in the market. This was also helped by TCPL’s own push to reach more towns and cities, apart from greater growth for its packaged foods portfolio that reported a 5% jump in quarterly volumes.

However, D’Souza expects rural areas to start recovering soon. “From what I hear, right now the recent crops have been decent; prices, whether it is pulses or other crops, are fairly decent. Given the fact that the meteorological department is predicting a normal monsoon and, of course, there will be buoyancy because it’s an election year, I would expect rural to start recovering within a couple of quarters," he added.

On Thursday, the company that sells Tata tea and Sampann foods reported a 2% jump in volumes in its domestic beverage business, while foods volume was up 5% in the third quarter. On a 12-month basis, however, the India tea business reported a volume share loss of 20 bps in the December quarter, even as the company reported market share gains quarter-on-quarter. “Tea prices are now largely stable and, therefore, the margins in our tea business are exactly where they should be.