Adani readies $1 billion to buy three food firms: report

The Adani group is looking to shore up its food and packaged consumer goods business, Mint reported, citing people aware of the developments.

The group’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) arm Adani Wilmar Ltd is looking to buy at least three brands in the spices, ready-to-cook foods and packaged edible goods space in the south and east of the country, the report added.

The report further said that the group may invest about $1 billion towards capital expenditure in the FMCG business, primarily via acquisitions, with each of the acquisitions would be in the range of $200-500 million.

Adani Wilmar, which caters predominantly to customers in west, central and north India, reported a revenue of ₹51,261.63 crore in fiscal 2024.

The company sells kitchen essentials for Indian consumers, including edible oil, wheat flour, rice, pulses and sugar, and claims the second largest market share in wheat and third largest in rice in retail consumer packs.

Its flagship brand ‘Fortune’ is one of the largest selling edible oil and food brands in India. It has a wide array of packaged foods including packaged wheat flour, rice, pulses, sugar, soya chunks and ready-to-cook biryani kits. It also offers a diverse range of industry essentials, including oleochemicals, castor oil and its derivatives.

The company, in a recent analyst presentation, said the foods business is “a much larger opportunity” and “the company is investing in the business.”

The size of India’s packaged food market is likely to reach $3.4 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 4.6% between 2022 and 2027, supplier intelligence firm IndustryARC said.

The soaring popularity of quick-service casual restaurants, technological breakthroughs in nanomaterials and nanotechnology, changing lifestyles of people, rapid urbanization, expanding e-commerce services in rural areas, and growing presence of modern retail outlets are behind the growth of the industry, IndustryARC said.