Dabur India is considering calibrated price increases across its product portfolio as elevated input costs, including higher crude oil prices, put pressure on margins. The FMCG major is also focusing on cost savings, a better product mix and higher investment in its core brands to sustain growth.
New Delhi, November 10 — FMCG major Dabur India is looking at calibrated price increases across its portfolio as it seeks to offset rising input costs while protecting profitability and maintaining growth momentum.
The company is currently navigating an inflationary environment, with higher crude oil prices amid the West Asia conflict adding to cost pressures across its supply chain.
Dabur India CEO for India Business Herjit Bhalla said the company is examining its entire portfolio to identify opportunities to improve product mix, optimise costs and take selective price increases while remaining competitive.
Core brands remain key focus
Dabur is also working to improve operational efficiency while continuing to invest in its major brands.
Its core brands account for nearly 60% of the company’s business, and management plans to maintain investment in them to increase category penetration and create more consumption occasions.
The company is also looking to improve the productivity of its advertising and promotional spending.
Dabur plans to increase consumer-facing media investments by 150-200 basis points for selected brands and categories.
India FMCG business grows 10.7%
Despite inflationary pressures, Dabur’s India FMCG business recorded 10.7% growth during the September quarter of FY27.
This included 5.5% volume growth and 5.2% pricing growth.
Management plans to extract additional efficiencies from operations and reinvest the savings into growth initiatives such as brand building and consumer-facing marketing.
Dabur is also reviewing its portfolio based on both the size and profitability of individual businesses.
The company could work to improve profitability in weaker product categories or consider exiting some SKUs that do not meet its objectives.
Dabur targets up to ₹200 crore in savings
The company has already generated savings of around ₹115 crore under its Samriddhi cost-efficiency programme.
It is now targeting savings of ₹170-200 crore going forward.
CFO Ankush Jain said efficiencies across the value chain, including improvements in production and product mix, would help fund the company’s investment requirements.
Dabur has maintained its double-digit growth guidance for FY27, expecting continued momentum from core brands, premium products and alternative distribution channels.
The company is also targeting an increase in the contribution of premium products to 23% over the next 18 months, compared with around 20% currently.
Dabur said its premium portfolio has expanded at four times the company’s overall growth rate during the past 18 months.
The strategy indicates that Dabur plans to tackle inflation through a combination of selective price hikes, cost efficiencies and a shift towards higher-value products rather than relying solely on broad-based price increases.
