Marico has zoomed past other FMCG stocks. But it needs a solid growth lever. Healthy food can help.

Courtesy of Saffola

Synopsis
Foods, along with other small segments, together account for about 10% of Marico’s annual revenue now. It is confident of a steady domestic volume growth of 8%-10% in the medium term. But food cannot just be an incremental addition to Marico’s business; it must become the next growth driver. Can it make that happen?

Since the markets crashed in March 2020 at the height of the pandemic, they’ve been making a strong comeback, even if the economy’s recovery is more visceral. Among FMCG and packaged-food stocks, Marico is emerging as an outperformer, beating even the benchmark Nifty50, which other FMCG stocks haven’t been able to do. Whether consumption will recover to pre-Covid-19 levels — in an ongoing recession with rising fuel prices — is something on