Britannia MD Rakshit Hargave says established Rs 5 and Rs 10 price points leave limited room for aggressive discounting, even as Reliance expands its Independence biscuit portfolio
Reliance Industries may find it more difficult to disrupt India’s biscuit market than the soft drinks segment, given the limited scope for aggressive price cuts in a category where several products are already sold at Rs 5 and Rs 10, Britannia Industries Managing Director and CEO Rakshit Hargave said on Friday.
The remarks come amid an expansion of Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL) biscuit business under its Independence brand. The FMCG arm of Reliance Industries recently introduced nine variants, comprising 28 new stock-keeping units (SKUs), with an initial rollout across Tamil Nadu from 2 November. The portfolio will gradually be introduced in other markets.
The expanded range includes Power Up biscuits, which combine milk, glucose and protein, alongside products targeting everyday and indulgent consumption. The company is also increasing production capacity to support distribution across general trade, modern retail, ecommerce, Reliance Retail and wholesale channels.
Tamil Nadu is a key market for the biscuit business, according to RCPL. The company is seeking to build scale through a wider portfolio of affordable products, while using its partnership with Maliban, a Sri Lankan biscuit maker, to develop differentiated premium offerings.
Reliance’s push comes after its entry into the carbonated drinks market through Campa, which it relaunched in 2023. The brand challenged established players Coca-Cola and PepsiCo through competitive pricing, intensifying competition in the segment.
However, Hargave said replicating a similar strategy in biscuits would be more difficult because of the category’s established price points. “A large part of the market operates at 5 rupees and 10 rupees, so the ability to disrupt those two price points … is much more difficult than you can do in a cola market by discounting by 5 rupees or 10 rupees,” Hargave said on a post-earnings call.
He added that Britannia remained watchful of competition from Reliance, noting that its new biscuit offerings mirrored products already available in the market.
Meanwhile, Britannia is managing rising input costs through price increases and changes in pack sizes. The company has been facing cost pressures from wheat flour, palm oil and sugar, with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East adding to the uncertainty around input costs.
Britannia increased prices by 3.5 per cent in the September quarter and reduced pack sizes in the preceding quarter. The company indicated that further price increases and pack-size adjustments could follow if cost pressures persist.
