Orkla India, the maker of MTR Foods, aims to become one of the country’s fastest-growing multi-category food companies over the next five years, driven by premiumisation, health and wellness offerings, rapid expansion of quick commerce, and potential inorganic opportunities, said its MD and CEO Sanjay Sharma.
Orkla India, part of Norwegian conglomerate Orkla ASA, operates in the country with brands such as MTR, Rasoi Magic and Eastern, and is looking to consolidate the fragmented Indian spices industry through further acquisitions while remaining open to partnerships in the convenience foods space, he said.
The company, among the largest exporters of branded spices, gets around 21 per cent of its revenue from exports and is encouraged by upcoming Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with key markets, which could improve market access and create a more stable business environment over the next 6-12 months, Sharma said.
While Sharma refrained from sharing specific revenue or profitability projections, he said the company remains confident it can sustain its historical double-digit growth trajectory as consumer preferences evolve and new channels gain prominence.
“We want to be one of the leading, fastest-growing multi-category companies in India. We have always and historically delivered a strong double-digit growth as far as the business is concerned. We are quite confident that we will continue to deliver that in the future as well,” Sharma told PTI in an interview.
According to Sharma, premiumisation and changing consumer preferences, especially among Gen Z consumers, are creating new growth opportunities for the company.
He said consumers are increasingly seeking fresh products with fewer preservatives and are becoming more conscious about nutrition and wellness, and that the rise of e-commerce and quick commerce is enabling food companies to meet such demand through shorter shelf-life products and direct-to-consumer models.
The company is also expanding its health and wellness portfolio in response to growing demand for protein-rich and nutritionally enhanced foods.
“We have actually launched protein-enriched poha, protein-enriched upma, protein-enriched dosa and idli. We are now working on several more product concepts around this,” Sharma said.
Orkla ASA entered the Indian market in 2007 by acquiring MTR. In 2019, Orkla expanded its India portfolio by acquiring Eastern from McCormick, again through an open process, partnering with the Miran family that had built the brand.
PTI
