Consumer firms on prowl for new markets fire up deal street

India’s consumer industry is witnessing rising deal-making and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) as companies seek to consolidate positions and enter emerging segments.

- Suneera Tandon & Priyamvada C.

The consumer sector saw over $2.5 billion worth of private equity funding and acquisitions in the last three years, data sourced from investment bank Avendus showed. The trend is likely to continue as large companies snap up smaller entities to enter newer categories.

"Even companies that have acquired in the last two years—none of them is saying that we are going to pause and integrate and then do more M&A. All of them, as we speak, are open to opening their wallets and acquiring more," said Abha Agarwal, managing director, Avendus Capital.

Over an earnings call Wednesday, Sudhir Sitapati, managing director and CEO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) said the company continues to look for opportunities in the health and beauty segment while building its core portfolio. Last year, GCPL acquired the fast moving consumer goods business of Raymond Consumer Care Ltd for ₹2,825 crore.

"Our number one priority is to master our existing categories. As and when we find genuine ways to solve a problem in health and beauty—our vision is to bring the focus on health and beauty in emerging markets. Particularly, in India, as and when we find opportunities in health and beauty we will evaluate it. Our thesis is based very much on developing categories that we are present in including liquid detergents," Sitapati said.