Battery maker Eveready in process of carving out new identity for FMCG arm

The recently announced brand Jollies marks the company's maiden foray into the mainstream FMCG space

Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL) is in the process of carving out a separate identity for its newly launched fast-moving consumer goods portfolio.

Eveready will continue to feature as the umbrella brand for the battery, flashlights, electrical and appliances space, while the FMCG portfolio will comprise multiple brands — Jollies, brands of the Wings Group (a leading FMCG player of Indonesia with which the Indian firm recently partnered), and several others.

“If I look at a five-year  period, I see EIIL as a company with two big verticals – one, the Eveready brand, which will comprise batteries, flashlights, appliances and lighting; then we will have multiple brands that will form the whole FMCG basket,” Amritanshu Khaitan, managing director, EIIL, told Business Standard.  Although the company is the market leader in dry cells in terms of turnover, growth has been flat. 

“We are a very big brand and have an excellent reach, but our product is mass market and thus the revenue that is generated is still relatively low,” said Khaitan. 

However, Khaitan expects the current turnover of around Rs 15 billion to double in the next four years as the company has taken a conscious decision to enter only those categories where the annual growth rate is between 10 per cent and 20 per cent, providing the company enough scope to expand.

“If we are able to double our turnover in the next  four years, it would take the company into a different league in terms of profitability and balance sheet position. The potential of the categories we have entered or are entering can help us dream big,” Khaitan said.

His plan is to increase the current 10 per cent “blended margin” of the company to around 13-14 per cent in a three-year timeframe and increase the turnover, which has stagnated over the last few years.

The recently announced brand, Jollies, which marks the company’s maiden foray into the mainstream FMCG space, will become the umbrella brand for the confectionary line of business the company has lined up.