Tata Global looking to launch ready-to-cook products in next few quarters, says M&A head Rakesh Sony

“We see the growth momentum to continue as far as we are concerned. I think we are in a sector which is not getting so severely impacted because of the slowdown. With monsoon being so good, I think the rural demand which was sort of a challenge for us, will come back in the next two quarters,” he added.

On the merger with the Tata Chemicals consumer business, he said, “We had filed all our applications and happy to mention that we have got our approvals from Sebi as well as the stock exchanges. We have now filed the application with NCLT and we are expecting a hearing very soon from both the NCLT’s in Mumbai and Kolkata.”

“Our timeline was to complete the merger before the end of this financial year and we are on track as far as that is concerned,” he added. Sony sees incremental EBITDA of Rs 100-120 crore on the merger of the Tata Chemical consumer business.

Speaking about Starbucks, Sony said, “Starbucks has done really well for us and it has been performing as per our plans. We are now in 10 cities. We entered in Gujarat last month and we opened 5 outlets in Ahmedabad and Surat. So, in India, today we are 157 outlets and in the first quarter we grew by almost 23 percent and we see the momentum to continue.”

On the new product launches, he said, “In tea, we have just concluded our acquisition of a brand called Laal Ghoda in Rajasthan. August 21 we closed the transaction and that brand is now part of our portfolio.”

“In terms of liquid beverages, we have two brands. One is Tata Gluco Plus which is part of our joint venture (JV) with Pepsi. That has been doing pretty well for us and is growing in double digits. We have also launched a product called Fuse Tea which is a natural beverage infused with green tea,” he added.

“We are looking at ready-to-cook as a category where we would like to launch a lot of new products under the brand Tata Sampann and that will happen in the next couple of quarters.”