NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (AsiaPulse) – Indian FMCG firms are turning
to efficient cost management and local procurement of raw
materials to offset increasing pressure on margins due to the
weakening of the rupee that has spiked input costs. Having already taken a series of price hikes this year, the
firms have little room to take a similar step and are worried
that their bottomlines could be hurt.
“The impact of this depreciation can be mitigated through
better cost management and feasible pricing changes. The extent
of mitigation will depend upon the ability of the respective
business to cut costs or take up prices,” Marico Ltd
(BSE:531642) CFO Milind Sarwate told PTI.
He, however, hastened to add that FMCG firms cannot be
oblivious to the expectations of the consumers in order to
sustain demand over the foreseeable future.
“If that has to be tapped unhindered, businesses cannot pass
on all the forex-led cost push on to the consumers. Therefore,
this forex push could hurt bottomlines too,” Sarwate said.
Emami (BSE:531162) Director Aditya Agarwal said input costs
have already gone up as the rupee weakened against the
dollar.
“We are exploring ways on how we can use raw materials from
India instead of imp