India a ‘bright spot’ amid global flux, offers strong growth: Tata Group chairman

New Delhi, Jun 10 (PTI) India continues to be a "bright spot" in the global economy despite geopolitical uncertainties, and offers "strong growth" as well as a very large market, even as consumer preferences and spending patterns are undergoing constant change, Tata Consumer Products Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Wednesday.

Addressing shareholders of the Tata Group's FMCG arm Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) at its 63rd Annual General Meeting, Chandrasekaran said the world today is being reshaped by geopolitical shifts, supply chain disruptions and realignments, energy transition and rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence.

This year started on an optimistic note with key developments such as the landmark trade agreement with the European Union and finalisation of the framework for an interim bilateral trade pact between India and the United States.

However, concerns over economic slowdown, weakening output and inflationary pressures resurfaced after the outbreak of the West Asia conflict late February, said Chandrasekaran, who is also the chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Group.

This environment has prompted businesses to prioritise "resilience and business continuity" productivity, and trust-based decisions over mere efficiency.

"In this backdrop, we are fortunate that India remains a bright spot in the world and continues to be the fastest growing major economy, primarily led by demographic strength, expanding physical and digital infrastructure, significant growth due to consumption and rising aspirations of the population," he said.

Chandrasekaran said changing lifestyles, new retail formats are emerging, digital commerce and particularly quick commerce are changing the way consumers consume, eat, drink and shop.

This presents a significant opportunity for companies that can combine consumer-first thinking, innovation, execution excellence and enjoy a trusted brand.

"Tata Consumer Products is extremely well-positioned in this scenario. Specifically coming to financial year 2025-26, the consolidated revenues in rupee terms grew 15 per cent to Rs 20,290 crore and the constant currency growth was around 12 per cent." Chandrasekaran further said TCPL has completed its 'evolution' from being a tea and coffee company to "tea, salt and a multi-category FMCG company" offering a wide range of beverages and food products.

"The company has created a very strong foundation encompassing distribution, innovation, digital capabilities and brands," he said.

He said the company now reaches 290 million households across India and is leveraging its distribution network, innovation pipeline, digital capabilities and brand portfolio to tap emerging consumption trends.

The chairman noted that growth businesses, including packaged foods, pantry staples and ready-to-drink beverages, now account for 30 per cent of the India portfolio, up from 26 per cent a year ago.

He also highlighted the growing role of quick commerce, saying new-age sales channels now contribute more than 35 per cent of the company's India business, although traditional retail remains central to its go-to-market strategy.

Moreover, integration of acquisitions such as Capital Foods and Organic India has expanded the company's addressable market, while investments in digital technologies and AI are being deployed across product development, forecasting, consumer insights and operational optimisation.

"Tata Consumer is focusing on digital transformation by embedding a lot of digital capabilities across all the functions and the value chain of the company. The company is also investing to leverage AI both in product development cycles as well as in forecasting and predicting consumer trends and marketing and optimising the overall operations," he said.

TCPL has become one of the top 10 FMCG companies of India, MD and CEO Sunil D’Souza said. PTI