Emami's Domestic Revenue From Modern Trade & e-commerce Increased From 5% To 22% in 5 Years Emami is focused on distribution through new age channels by accelerating Modern Trade growth with a thrust on B2C and joint business plans with retail chains

FMCG major Emami, across locations, brands, roles, and functions, seeks ongoing renewal and rejuvenation. The company aims to achieve annual mid-double digit percentage growth, regardless of challenging market conditions like those in FY2023- 24. "Our goal is to grow ahead of the market curve over the medium term. During the year under review, a general slowdown in the FMCG sector resulted in our company growing revenues at 5 per cent. While this may be disappointing at first glance, there were several embedded positives: the Company's EBITDA margin increased over the pre-COVID levels to 26.5 per cent, the percentage of revenues from organized channels rose to the highest in our existence," said Harsha V. Agarwal, vice chairman and MD, Emami.

Emami posted a profit of INR 152.64 crore in the first quarter of FY25, up 10.8 per cent in comparison to INR 137.72 crore during the same period last year. It recorded revenue from operations at INR 906.07 crore, up 9.7 per cent as against INR 825.66 crore recorded during the June quarter of FY24.

Growing revenue from new channels

The Company's focus will be to grow revenues with robust margins, which would be a definitive step and send out a strong message to all its stakeholders. Emami will remain agile and a strategically driven entrepreneurial company where the size of addressable markets will be complemented by their under-penetration. "This will ensure that we not only focus on capturing market share but on growing those markets first and then accounting for a sizable share of the incremental growth. We believe that this first-mover role – something that we have consistently demonstrated across the last 50 years – is the surest way to capture and enhance recall in a brand-cluttered world," he added.

The company is also focused on distribution through new age channels by accelerating Modern Trade growth with a thrust on B2C, and joint business plans with retail chains and using the latest tools to drive high fill rates within stores on the store shelves by tracking in store visibility, on-shelf inventory and store level line extensions across all Modern Trade formats and outlets. For e-commerce, it made products available at all major online marketplaces, grocery, beauty & pharmaceutical platforms; focused on D2C by launching brand specific portals, and launched Digital First Products under major brands. The result is evident in the fact that Emami's domestic revenue contribution from modern trade and e-commerce increased from 5 per cent to 22 per cent in five years.

On Acquisitions

To grow from one level to another with speed, there is a growing premium on acquisition. When Emami acquired Zandu more than a decade-and-ahalf ago, there was a question of whether it paid too much. "At Emami, we didn't just take a call on what we had acquired; we also took a call on what we could do with the acquisition. Following the 'Emami touch', Zandu was turned around, contributes significantly to our topline and bottom line, and has since graduated from an almost standalone brand into a multi-variant platform." he said.

The company extended this success to other acquired brands as well: Kesh King in 2015, Creme 21 in 2019 and Dermicool in 2022. Today, around 45 per cent of its topline is generated from acquired brands, strengthening the perspective among consumers.

Emami was established in 1974 by childhood friends RS Agarwal and RS Goenka. Emami has been led by the founders and second generation promoters, who are backed by a team of seasoned professionals. This leadership structure ensures a blend of entrepreneurial vision and strategic guidance, underpinned by years of industry experience