Staples, ready-to-cook food to be Adani Wilmar's key growth drivers

The Rs 29,000 crore strong FMCG arm of the Adani Group, Adani Wilmar, known for the Fortune brand of edible oil is all set to position itself as a complete food company, with a presence in branded staples and ready-to-cook category. Over 80 per cent of the company's revenue comes from edible oil, and food constitutes just 10 per cent, but Ajay Motwani, Head (Marketing), Adani Wilmar, says that the coming months would see a huge emphasis on the foods business.

"Going forward, food will grow higher than oil. In the next 2-3 years, food should contribute significantly to our business," he says. The company, in the last 10-12 months, has on an average launched at least one product every month and made a strong foray into staples such as rice, atta, sooji, maida, toor dal and besan under the Fortune brand. It has also launched sugar in the North and East of India.

The Coronavirus pandemic and the huge thrust on immunity and good health has led the company to push its soya chunk brand, Fortune Soya Badi, by roping in former cricketer, Saurabh Ganguly, as the brand ambassador. "Soya badi is an excellent nutrition supplement and many mothers smuggle it into their kid's diet especially when vegetables become expensive. It's an affordable substitute to vegetables," explains Motwani.

The foods business of Adani Wilmar, claims Motwani, saw a huge fillip during the lockdown with a large segment of consumers moving from loose to packaged staples.

"Consumers are willing to pay a premium for quality and for a trusted brand."

At the same time the consumers are also down-trading in terms of pack sizes. Motwani says that a large part of the company's staples sales is coming for lower unit packs. "When it comes to edible oils consumers are still buying five-litre packs, but in the food category there is a clear trend of people managing their budgets. They are buying smaller pack sizes."

The FMCG major has seen a contraction in edible oil sales during the lockdown months with the horeca segment coming to a halt. "Though home consumption has gone up, it has not compensated for the loss in horeca sales. Around 40-50 per cent of our edible oil sales comes from the Horeca segment."

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