NEW DELHI: Biscuits major Parle is anticipating at least double-digit growth in the second half of this year on the restriction-free festive season, according to Mayank Shah, Senior Category Head Parle Products.
The reason for this, Shah says in interaction with TNIE, is that this will be the first time people will be freely moving out and you know probably celebrating festivals. “So we are anticipating a very good year with a very good festive season.”
Biscuits category business grew 11-12% in terms of value in FY22 and about 4-5% in terms of volume growth, Shah informs. The company, according to Shah, has started seeing a revival in growth since the first quarter of the year owing to a good monsoon and is betting big on the two newly launched categories of packaged atta (flour) and cereals.
On new launches in the pipeline, he says, “Ideally we’d like to currently consolidate and focus on this category and have some critical volumes before we look at moving through introducing some other categories or brands.”
On the consumption behaviour, Shah says last year smaller packs were really doing very well, but with demand getting revived, there’s increased traction towards big packs of premium products. “Our first quarter onwards, we have started seeing consumers gravitating towards the bigger packs of premium products so bigger packs are doing really well.”
However, amidst the optimism, there’s a big challenge in dealing with volatility for the company. “You cannot decide how you price your product. In case if you price it at a higher rate, and then you know, those rates go down, then you are rendered uncompetitive and if you assume that lower rates will prevail, and you price it at a lower MRP and if the rates go high, then you’re making losses. So, it’s very, very challenging.”