Britannia to hike prices to counter inflation

New Delhi, Aug 25: India's leading biscuit maker Britannia Industries Ltd on Monday, Aug 25 said it will increase the prices of its products to offset the rise in input cost, if the inflation does not stop its forward march.

''We will be forced to hike the prices across our products if the inflation rises further. The company will try to absorb the cost to a point, but beyond that we have to take this step,'' company Vice President (Sales, Marketing and Innovation) Neeraj Chandra told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here. The company, which is partly owned by Groupe Danone, has recently increased the price of its products by 8-12 per cent to pass the burden of increasing input cost to the consumers.

The input cost has increased about 20 per cent over the last one year, mainly in the ingredients such as wheat, oil, sugar. ''Even the cost of transporation has become a major challenge for us,'' Mr Chandra said.

He explained that even the prices of wheat has increased over last one year by 20-25 per cent.

The recent price hike and the cost cutting measures have helped the company to retain the margin, Mr Chandra said. ''But the further increase in the prices of ingredients will force them to increase prices,'' he said.

The company has taken various measures such as adoption of efficent dispatch pattern for reduction of transpoort cost, besides using energy efficient products, he said.

The company today launched NurtiChoice biscuit which is priced at Rs 40 for a pack of 12 biscuits.

''It consist of five essential cereals which are good for health, namely oats, corn, ragi, rice and wheat,'' he said.

Some of companies well-known brands include Tiger, Good Day, Marie Gold, 50-50.

UNI