Tata Consumer to expand presence in south India, focusses on rural market

Tata Consumer Products Ltd is expanding its presence in the southern markets and focussing on building distribution channels in rural and semi-urban markets now, the company said in its latest annual report.

"We are expanding our presence in South India across tea, coffee, salt and spices with the launch of South-specific products to cater to regional consumers," said TCPL.

The company continues to "gain ground in the South" in tea and coffee. In tea, TCPL's Chakra Gold and Kanan Devan brands continued to make strong inroads into the south and Tata Coffee Grand was restaged with a new pack design.

"We have identified the rural market as an area of opportunity and are focussing on building distribution in rural and semi-urban markets now. In salt, we launched Shuddh, a brand specifically targeted to the South market," said TCPL.

While in the spices category, TCPL launched a range of customised spices under the Tata Sampann brand for the southern market.

TCPL aspires to be a leading player in the FMCG industry by expanding its play in existing categories and venturing into new spaces, the annual report said.

Overall, In FY23, TCPL increased the direct distribution by 15 per cent to 1.5 million outlets pan India.

"This has allowed us to take our portfolio to a larger outlet universe with more impact. Tata Consumer currently has a direct reach of 1.5 million outlets across India, a 2x+ increase from two years ago," it noted.

TCPL has scaled up its network during FY23 and is now focusing on enhancing semi-urban and rural distribution.

In FY23, TCPL e-commerce has continued to grow at a "rapid pace", with 32 per cent year-over-year growth.

"Several new initiatives were carried out during the year, including a dedicated customer marketing vertical, the use of data and analytics to generate insights and improve efficiency, and redesigning of the team structure to include a key account team for driving sales," the company said.

While its sales from modern trade "grew 21 per cent and increased its share in India sales to 14 per cent".

For the financial year ended March 2023, TCPL's revenue from operations was up 11 per cent at Rs 13,783 crore.