Tata Group's consumer push gathered pace under Chandrasekaran's leadership

The creation of Tata Consumer Products and acquisitions of Capital Foods, Organic India and Soulfull helped the group build a larger, diversified portfolio of consumer brands

N Chandrasekaran became chairman of Tata Sons in February 2017, shifting the salt-to-technology conglomerate's focus towards becoming more consumer-centric.

 

One of the major changes that the Tata group saw was the formation of Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL), which came into being through the merger of Tata Chemicals’ consumer products business and Tata Global Beverages. The formation was announced and initiated in 2019 and completed in 2020.

 

With TCPL coming into play, Tata brands such as Tata Tea and Tata Salt came under one umbrella, making it a larger consumer platform.

 

Under the Tata group, other consumer businesses also operate. These businesses include Trent, Titan Company, Voltas, and Infiniti Retail, which owns the Croma electronics chain.

 

 

TCPL aggressively expanded its product portfolio through strategic acquisitions. In 2024, the company acquired Capital Foods, bringing popular brands like Ching’s Secret (noodles and soups) and Smith & Jones (cooking pastes) under its umbrella. It also acquired Organic India at the same time. Prior to that, it acquired Soulfull in February 2021.

 

Arvind Singhal, chairman at The Knowledge Company, said the consumer businesses need better capital allocations. “Some hard decisions need to be taken to give better returns to shareholders,” he added.

 

Brand expert Alpana Parida said that with TCPL coming into play, the company is now able to capitalise on the growing premiumisation trend.

 

“Through this move, the Tata group was able to build a house of brands. Prior to this, it only had Tata Tea, Tata Coffee, Tata Sampann, and Tata Salt. All the acquisitions which the company has done over the last few years, have helped it diversify and create a larger portfolio of products,” she said.