Godrej Consumer Products to enter into pet care business in India

Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) has announced that it will enter the pet care business in the country through Godrej Pet Care, a subsidiary of the company, as it looks to tap into the Rs 5,000 crore category with the potential for strong double-digit growth for the next few decades.

The maker of Good Knight said it will invest Rs 500 crore in its pet care business over a period of five years. Godrej Agrovet will be the manufacturing and R&D partner, and it plans to commence in the second half of FY26.

“To give a perspective, only approximately 10 per cent of Indians own a pet, of which only 10 per cent feed packaged food, and that too only 40 per cent of the time. Calorie conversion in India is only 4 per cent. China, which was remarkably similar to India 15 years ago, has 20 per cent pet ownership with a calorie conversion of 25 per cent,” Sudhir Sitapati, managing director and chief executive officer at GCPL, said in its earnings release.

He added, “While the opportunity is clear, we believe that our right to win as a group is high. The group company, GAVL, is the market leader in animal feed and has a good understanding of pet foods R&D, with competitive advantages in supply chain.”

“GCPL will invest the entire capital of Rs 500 crore in GPC over a period of 5 years, post which we see GPC becoming cash flow positive. Lead times to set up capex are long, and we hope to commence manufacturing in the second half of next year,” he added.