Fast-moving consumer goods continue to exude confidence on the back of healthy numbers that they are seeing in the first quarter of FY22. Earlier this week, Godrej Consumer Products said it expects to deliver sales growth in the high teens this quarter driven by volume growth and calibrated price increases.

In line with industry trends, the company saw strong volume growth in its Home Care and Personal Care categories, which make up about 40 percent of the company’s India business.

“At a consolidated level, we continue to leverage our category and geographic portfolio well and expect to deliver strong double-digit sales growth and our 2-year CAGR to be in the double digits,” the company added in its business update.

While there has been a marginal price-led growth as well, the company is closely eyeing the direction inputs costs will take over the next 6-9 months.

Meanwhile, Titan has said that it expects over two-fold increase in sales in the first quarter of this fiscal, but this has been helped by the low base last year where the company saw zero sales in April 2020 due to the pandemic. The April-June quarter this year was only hit to a small extent, the company said, until the third week of April from the rapidly rising second wave of pandemic, primarily due to the temporary store closures in some important states.

As states now unlock, Titan has said that it is seeing sales recovery gradually improving across the businesses, along with the increase in the store operational days.

“This year, Watches & Wearables and Eyewear segments have also witnessed rapid recovery in walk-ins with the re-opening of stores, which was seen in only Jewellery division last year. The Company recorded revenue growth of ~117% (excluding bullion sales) in Q1’22, with revenue contribution of approx. 50%, 10% and 40% coming from April, May and June months respectively,” the company added.

Another major update that was awaited in the retail sector was the Supreme Court hearing the Amazon-future Retail case based on Amazon’s plea. However, the SC has said that it will hear the matter on July 20 after a Future Group counsel requested that the proceeds be adjourned for a week since the Singapore International Arbitration Centre will be hearing the case from July 12.

The SIAC hearings too will be keenly watched next week as the Future Retail-Reliance Retail deal has been stalled for nearly a year now amid Amazon’s objections against the deal. In fact the stalling of the deal also has bankers worried with lenders now reportedly assessing the Future Group’s ability to sustain operations once its loan moratorium ends in September. All eyes are now on the SIAC and SC hearings that will decide the fate of the Rs 25,000-crore deal.

In another update in the retail industry, lifestyle retailer Fabindia, which is reportedly in the process of hiring bankers for an IPO soon, has lined up massive expansion plans for the Indian market. The company is now going to target a new set of customers – the millennials and GenZ through the launch of two new brands FabNU and Fabessentials this quarter. FabNU will be a line of western wear and home décor products at affordable price points, while Fabessentials will be a range of natural beauty and personal care products

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Jul 10, 2021 12:21 PM IST