Dabur sees demand slow down after a strong first quarter

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Oct 1, 2019

After close to double-digit growth in the first quarter of the 2020 financial year, fast-moving consumer goods retailer Dabur is seeing a slowdown in demand and expects more modest growth in the second quarter.

“Dabur did very well relative to competition in the first quarter,” Dabur’s CEO Mohit Malhotra told ET Now in an interview.

“We almost had a double digit volume growth trajectory as compared to all our competitors which were low single digit. The first quarter was fantastic for us and that came on back of our improvement in infrastructure, introducing power brand strategy, disproportionally investing in our brands and our market share shoring across all the categories.” 

Malhotra also said that, as for most FMCG businesses in India, the business has seen demand decrease during the second quarter.

“Demand has been slowing down in all the categories we are operating in sequentially,” said Malhotra. “For example, the category which used to clip at around 10-12% volume levels have come down to a level of around 3-3.5%.”

Despite a reduction in growth, Dabur’s hair oil, shampoos, toothpaste, and healthcare segments are doing well. Malhotra said that these categories are “trending much above the category growth rates and we are gaining shares across the categories where we are present.”