ITC packs a punch, beats Britannia in foods biz

ITC packs a punch, beats Britannia in foods biz

KOLKATA: ITC Ltd has overtaken Britannia Industries for the first time to become the second largest listed packaged foods company by sales in India, behind Nestle.

ITC's foods business posted consolidated sales of Rs 17,194.5 crore for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, the company that owns brands such as Aashirvaad atta, Bingo potato chips and Sunfeast biscuits in the segment said in its latest annual report. This comprised both domestic sales and exports.

At Britannia, consolidated sales were ?16,769.2 crore, while total income, including from outside its core foods business, was Rs 16,983.4 crore.

Nestle India reported total sales of Rs 24,275.5 crore for fiscal 2024, a 15-month period through March because of the company changing its financial year to April-March from January-December.

Premium Brands Boost Sales

For the 12 months ended March 31, the local unit of Swiss multinational Nestle SA posted Rs 19,563 crore in sales, ET's calculation shows.

ITC's food business sales in FY24 grew 9% from the previous year, while Britannia's expansion was slower at 2.9%, helping the Kolkata-based conglomerate improve its position on ranking charts.

A 7-8% increase in atta prices last fiscal year helped ITC, considering packaged atta sold under the Aashirvaad brand is its largest revenue contributor in the food business, an industry executive said. Also, categories such as biscuits and salty snacks grew 10% over the previous year's high base. Adding more premium brands to its portfolio and consistent launch of over 100 new products every year for the past few years too drove its sales.

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ITC did not respond to ET's request for comment.

ET had earlier reported, citing data from sales tracker NielsenIQ, that ITC had overtaken both listed and unlisted companies such as Britannia and Parle Products to become the country's largest packaged foods company by domestic sales in the nine-month period till September 2023.

An industry executive said its dominance in the market continued at least till March this year. The FMCG business posted gross sales of Rs 20,966 crore in FY24, an increase of 9.6% from the previous year.

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