Momentum is coming back slowly, hope it continues as we lead up to election year, says Britannia Industries

The momentum is coming back slowly and we are hoping that it continues leading up to the election year, said Varun Berry, MD, Britannia Industries.

He said government has been very proactive with regards to goods and services tax (GST) issues and has simplified the tax collection process.

“The demand growth has been reasonably good. We have seen about 200-250 point increase in overall industry growth which is a single digit growth and we certainly are waiting for the time when the industry starts to look at a double digit growth but definitely a move in the right direction,” he added.

On cost saving front, he said, “Cost saving is now part of our culture and these cost savings are never counted again. So whatever cost savings that we have done last year, the clock starts on the first day of the year and ends on the last day of the year and anything that is over and above is counted in our cost saving. It’s a stringent way of looking at our cost and budget is a higher number than what we did last year and certainly we are looking at areas of cost savings.”

We expect cost saving levels to be around Rs 220-250 crore for FY19, Berry added.

We have a fairly good innovation pipeline and the company is ready with some big launches, he said.

"We expect new products in biscuits & cakes segments towards FY19 end and will launch croissants and enter into breakfast market by November," said Berry.