Our associate research company Ipp Services, Training and Research PL (www.ippstar.org) has done a quick snapshot study of fifteen known food brands from FY 2013-14 to FY 2021-22. The financial data for these companies shows that in any given year one to three out of the fifteen companies showed losses. In one year, FY 2016-17, the combined turnover was negative. Moreover, the combined profitability of these fifteen companies declined in three years FY 14-15, FY 15-16, and FY 17-18.
The combined revenue of these fifteen companies in our select sample has risen from Rs 91,600 crore (US$ 11.2 billion) to Rs 142,000 crore (US$ 17.3 billion) in nine years – an increase of 55%. (The dollar conversion is at current rates of Rs 82 to the US$.) Their combined profit has risen from Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 16,000 crore, an increase of 167%. The CAGR of the total revenues of our combined sample over nine years is 5.69% while their combined CAGR of profit over the same period is 12.59%.
In the main, this small but diverse sample seems to show the benefits of brand building and improved distribution over a period of time. And it may also reflect the benefits of scalability and the steady increase in product variations, value addition, and overall demand for processed products, packaging, and traffic in organized retail.
Our select sample of fifteen leading food companies comprises six global multinationals and three Indian companies that have expanded globally in recent years. One company is highly diversified and its overall numbers (that we have used in this survey) include several segments apart from food, such as personal care and cosmetics, and household products. The others are mainly food, processed, ready-to-heat-and-eat, confectionery, milk, beverage, and spice companies. The sample includes two ice cream manufacturers, two companies in milk and milk products, and one rice manufacturer and exporter. Three of the companies are active in chocolates.
However, one fairly large company in our select sample has shown widely erratic revenues and profitability over the nine-year period examined. Normally it would have been excluded from our analysis but it is an important company and for our preliminary understanding we have left it in our calculations.
Our Indian food industry study is a glimpse of our overall work that is based on a great deal of specificity and granularity from which we aim to derive the consumption of processing equipment and packaging. In each project apart from secondary data, there is face-to-face collection of qualitative data and perceived trends, followed by validation and plausibility checks based on matching inputs with process and output data, and ultimately Delphi method interviews. For more information contact research@ippgroup.in.
