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January 7, 2026
Writankar Mukherjee & Shabori Das, Economic Times / Brand Equity
7 January 2026
There’s a renewed sparkle in the adage ‘Old is Gold’ at India’s biggest conglomerate Reliance. Banking on Indians’ nostalgia, it is hawking and reviving labels that once defined everyday life, Campa and BPL among them, to set its consumer venture’s cash registers ringing.
What started with sales of Rs. 3,000 crore in FY24, Reliance Industries’ fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business quickly accelerated towards Rs. 11,500 crore the following year. With a staggering Rs. 5,400 crore posted in the July to September FY26 quarter alone, the revival story is clearly striking a chord with consumers. But Campa, already the largest contributor to the Reliance Industries’ FMCG business, is only the beginning.
The company is injecting fresh life into acquisition of legacy brands such as Ravalgaon in confectionery and Velvette in personal care. Reliance is applying the same formula to the consumer electronics business, covering televisions, refrigerators and washing machines. Once a staple of Indian households, Kelvinator and BPL are being reintroduced.
Strategy Rings a Bell?
Driving this revival is a strategy Reliance knows well: aggressive pricing that is often 20 to 30% lower than competitors, offering generous trade margins to woo retailers, and a rapid expansion of distribution from its own stores to kiranas and local outlets, alongside local sourcing and an expanding product portfolio.
It’s a playbook that once created waves in the telecom market; this time, however, it comes with a generous dose of nostalgia.
The path ahead though may not be easy. While Campa may have yielded results in a category linked to instant gratification, electronics is a high-ticket, long-term purchase. Marketers are debating whether consumers in their 20s and 30s—spoilt for choice by global brands—would choose a Kelvinator refrigerator, a BPL TV or a Velvette shower gel over LG, Samsung, Dove or Fiama.
Deep Pockets and Retail Muscle
Reliance, experts say, has two advantages— its balance sheet and strong market presence with its own retail stores. “Reliance has the intent to dominate a market in whatever business it enters. Their brands in FMCG and electronics too have a more-than-decent chance of surviving and thriving,” says Devangshu Dutta, founder and chief executive of Third Eyesight, a consultancy in consumer space.
“As long as they have capital and management capability, they may cut their teeth,” he says.
The company is approaching the FMCG and electronics businesses in startup mode, but with deep pockets. As a Reliance executive explains, the strategy is to invest and invest more, gain market share, continue to absorb losses and after achieving scale, drive efficiencies to generate profit.
The path has been carved out. Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), the FMCG business entity and what started as a unit of Reliance Retail Ventures, is now a direct subsidiary of Reliance Industries. This shift will help the company raise funds independently and eventually launch an initial public offering (IPO), and drive valuation independent of retail. The electronic business may follow suit as it grows in scale.
Reliance did not respond to Brand Equity’s queries.
Electronics: A Tough Play
Industry executives say the electronics foray will not be an easy battle against international brands. Global brands enjoy strong appeal in the Indian market, and companies such as LG, Samsung and Sony have been present for over two decades, cementing their position. Even the newer ones like Haier and Voltas Beko are rapidly gaining market share.
Pulkit Baid, director of the electronics retail chain Great Eastern Retail, says that unlike the cola industry, where two large players (Coca-Cola and PepsiCo) dominate, consumer durables are highly fragmented. “Kelvinator enjoys the brand heritage of an Ambassador car. But we will have to see if the brand is welcomed by Gen Z with the same euphoria as Campa.”
Industry veteran Deba Ghoshal notes that very few legacy brands have been able to withstand the onslaught of new-age brands in consumer electronics. Voltas (from the Tatas) and Godrej are exceptions, he adds.
“Reliance Retail has the strategic foresight to re-establish legacy brands in consumer durables space, instead of chasing a standalone private label business,” adds Ghoshal. “There is a strong opportunity in BPL and Kelvinator, provided they are re-launched with strong value and engaging emotive hooks, and not restricted to being a price warrior. Reliance has the capability; it just needs the right strategy.”
Reliance is readying campaigns for BPL and Kelvinator to connect with the younger consumers. The company is planning to re-launch them beyond Reliance Retail stores—targeting regional retail chains and e-commerce platforms and expanding quickly into smaller towns. With India’s electronics penetration still low—15 to 18% for flat-panel TVs, 40% for refrigerators, 20% for washing machines and less than 10% for air conditioners (ACs)—Reliance has substantial headroom for growth.
Angshuman Bhattacharya, partner and national leader for consumer products and retail at EY India, says Reliance may focus on tier two and three cities. “These markets have been a low priority for the Samsungs and LGs because they want to play in the premium segment where margins are higher. That is where Reliance may expand the market. It requires a lot of capital in terms of inventories and distribution, and Reliance has the ability and potential to do so.”
FMCG: Ball is Rolling
The FMCG push is gaining strong momentum. Reliance plans to double its distribution to three million outlets this fiscal.
Over the next three years, it looks to invest Rs. 40,000 crore to create Asia’s largest integrated food parks and has already invested Rs. 3,000 crore in manufacturing.
Isha Ambani, who spearheads Reliance’s retail and FMCG businesses, drew attention to Campa’s comeback at the company’s AGM in August: “Campa-Cola now holds double-digit market share across many states, breaking a 30-year MNC duopoly of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Campa Energy gained two million social media followers in just 90 days.”
Her target is bold: To reach Rs. 1 lakh crore in FMCG revenue within five years and become India’s largest FMCG company with a global presence.
Market watchers say such high ambitions require high investments. Kannan Sitaram, co-founder and partner at venture capital firm Fireside Ventures, said a company like Hindustan Unilever would set aside at least `30-40 crore to launch a brand. “Advertising and marketing alone would take up more than half of that. And when you are re-launching a brand which has not been around for a long while, the spending tends to be 25 to 30% higher in the initial three to four months,” he says.
Yet, analysts believe Reliance is in the consumer brands business for the long term. Bhattacharya says whatever Reliance has learned in this short time is meaningful and serious, something nobody else has managed.
Mover and Shaker
Competitors, including Tata Consumer Products, Dabur and PepsiCo’s largest bottler in India Varun Beverages, have acknowledged the turbulence created by Reliance in the FMCG sector. But the industry hopes low penetration levels will ensure there is room for everyone.
Varun Beverages chairman Ravi Jaipuria did not mince his words in the company’s latest earnings call in October-end: “They (Reliance) have woken all of us up and we are becoming more attentive… it is a very healthy sign for the country because our per capita consumption is so low that in the next five to 10 years, this market may double or triple…there is a huge room, and we see only positives in this.”
The revival of legacy brands and aggressive push into FMCG and consumer electronics indicates that Reliance is preparing for the long haul. In this fight driven by nostalgia, competitive pricing, deep pockets and distribution muscle, the battle for shelf space has just begun.
(Published in Economic Times/Brand Equity)
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December 29, 2025
Yash Bhatia, Impact Magazine
29 December 2025
App, Tap, Pay and Zoom it’s delivered – that is Quick commerce for you. And in India, the narrative has so far been defined by speed, scale, high SKU counts, and the dominance of dark stores. Last week, however, Instamart nudged that model by opening an experiential store in Gurugram, allowing consumers to see and feel select products available on the platform.
The Bengaluru-based company has positioned the outlet not as a conventional retail store, but as a compact experiential format with a sharply curated assortment of around 100–200 SKUs, compared to the 15,000–20,000 SKUs typically housed in a dark store. Spanning roughly 400 sq. ft., the space is about one-tenth the size of a standard 4,000 sq. ft. dark store.
Under this model, sales proceeds are paid directly to sellers. This differs from Instamart’s regular arrangement, where payments are routed through the platform and later settled with sellers after deducting the platform’s share. IMPACT reached out to Instamart for further details, but the company declined to comment.
Sources close to the development say that Instamart has enabled sellers to open branded experiential stores in and around residential societies as part of a targeted consumer experiment. These are not conventional retail outlets, but compact experiential formats with a highly curated SKU assortment, focused on categories where consumers prefer to assess the products first-hand before purchasing, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, pulses, new product launches, and selected D2C brands. The initiative is largely centred on fresh categories and allows sellers to experiment with Instamart’s branding and service ecosystem.
Devangshu Dutta, Founder, Third Eyesight, a retail consultancy firm, says that physical presence plays a vital role in anchoring trust, particularly in premium products, groceries, and fresh produce. “Experiencing a product or brand physically can significantly enhance perceived value and help create stickiness. For this reason, offline stores continue to remain integral to the consumer products sector,” he explains.
Built on the promise of speed and convenience, quick commerce brands have come under growing scrutiny for quality and hygiene lapses at dark stores. Over the past year, several reports have flagged issues ranging from poor storage conditions and compromised freshness to the sale of expired or damaged products, particularly in food and grocery categories.
In some instances, regulatory inspections have led to licence suspensions after authorities identified hygiene violations at fulfilment centres. “Trust is what builds loyalty, and the shift is clearly moving from minutes to confidence,” says Shankar Shinde, Co-Founder, Aisles and Shelves, a behaviour-led brand consultancy in India. Shinde adds that the emergence of offline formats such as Instamart’s physical store aligns with this transition, particularly in grocery and fresh categories where consumers place a high premium on quality and consistency. “Physical touchpoints help reduce consumer anxiety, especially in a market like India, where shoppers still prefer hand-picked fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables,” he explains.
Against this backdrop, the opening of experiential centres could emerge as one way for quick commerce players to rebuild consumer trust by allowing shoppers to experience products in person before purchasing. IMPACT also reached out to Blinkit and Zepto for their views, but both declined to comment.
Kushal Bhatnagar, Associate Partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants, believes the move is aimed at unlocking incremental growth by tapping into offline-first consumers who are not yet active on quick commerce, while also catering to the offline purchase missions of existing quick commerce users. He notes that quick commerce currently reaches only about 75–80 million annual transacting users as of CY2025, even as over 90% of India’s grocery consumption continues to take place offline.
Beyond expanding reach, Bhatnagar sees offline formats as a way to address deeper trust barriers within the category. He adds that such formats can help deepen consumer confidence, particularly in categories where apprehensions around quality and freshness persist in quick commerce deliveries, concerns that are partly alleviated when consumers can experience products first-hand. Additionally, he points out that this approach benefits brands, especially emerging ones that are largely confined to quick commerce or a limited set of platforms, by giving them greater physical retail visibility without requiring heavy investment in traditional distribution networks.
Viewed through a financial lens, the move also carries implications for how quick commerce platforms justify value. Saurabh Parmar, fractional CMO, believes the initiative signals a shift from promise to performance, with a stronger emphasis on optimisation and a more realistic assessment of long-term value creation. He notes that while quick commerce has expanded into Tier 2 markets and seen growth in user numbers, these metrics alone still fall short of fully justifying current valuations. In this context, an offline presence becomes another lever to strengthen the overall business case.
At the same time, Parmar cautions that offline formats cannot replace the core proposition of quick commerce. He adds that experiential centres enhance brand credibility and make quick commerce feel closer to conventional retail, with the potential to eventually extend into other facets of e-commerce. However, he emphasises that quick commerce must continue to remain the frontline, as the sector’s valuations are fundamentally anchored in its speed-led proposition.
Retail experts, meanwhile, view physical touchpoints as a long-standing mechanism for building trust rather than a structural shift.
Dutta adds that such formats complement existing digital trust mechanisms such as delivery consistency, speed, ratings, and reviews by making brands feel tangible and accountable rather than abstract.
Bhatnagar notes that quick commerce currently has an average monthly transacting user base of around 40 million as of CY2025, leaving significant headroom for growth when compared to India’s overall e-commerce base of nearly 300 million active transacting users.
Beyond expanding the user base, he adds that experiential stores can also support wallet-share expansion across categories, which remains a key growth lever for the sector. “Non-grocery segments such as beauty and personal care, electronics, and fashion currently contribute about 25% of quick commerce GMV (Gross Merchandise Value), a share that is expected to rise further. Within groceries as well, platforms can drive incremental growth by building greater depth in fresh produce and staples,” Bhatnagar highlights.
From an operational perspective, however, the offline format is viewed more as a supporting layer than a core growth engine. Dutta sees Instamart’s offline presence as an experimental add-on rather than a replacement for its delivery-led model. The operating processes and economics differ significantly from those of quick commerce delivery, positioning physical formats as a complement to the speed proposition rather than an alternative. If the model proves viable and is backed by sufficient resources, it could eventually lead to a parallel scale-up of dark stores and experiential formats across different catchments.
For now, Instamart’s offline foray remains a tightly scoped experiment rather than a strategic pivot. Its significance lies less in square footage and more in what it signals about the evolving priorities of quick commerce. As the category matures, speed alone may no longer be sufficient to secure trust, loyalty, or long-term value. Experiential touchpoints, if deployed selectively, could help platforms bridge the gap between digital convenience and physical reassurance, particularly in categories where quality perception continues to remain fragile.
(Published in IMPACT)
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December 15, 2025
By Saumyangi Yadav, Entrepreneur India
Dec 15, 2025
India’s D2C ecosystem has grown rapidly over the past five years, but scale remains elusive. While thousands of brands have launched and many have crossed early revenue milestones, only a small fraction manage to break past INR 100 crore in annual revenue. According to a new report by DSG Consumer Partners, based on a survey of over 100 Indian D2C founders and operators, the problem is not demand or product-market fit, it is how brands attempt to scale.
The report shows that around 60–65 per cent of Indian D2C brands remain stuck in the INR 1–50 crore revenue band, with very few reaching the INR 100 crore mark. This stage marks the point where early traction exists, but growth begins to strain unit economics, teams, and operating systems.
Insights from over 100 D2C founders reveal that India’s fastest-growing brands win on fundamentals rather than speed alone. Clear product-market fit, disciplined data tracking, strong unit economics, creative velocity, and an early focus on retention consistently separate scalable brands from those that plateau. Founders also admit that performance marketing mistakes, pricing missteps, and weak creative systems slow growth far more than budget constraints. In a booming D2C landscape, capability gaps in operations, brand-building, and supply-chain depth are widening the divide between breakout brands and those stuck in the performance plateau.
Industry observers argue that this is where many brands mistake rapid online growth for sustainable scale.
As Devangshu Dutta, Founder & CEO, Third Eyesight, explains, “Scaling up online can be very rapid, but is also capital-hungry in terms of CAC. Given the intense competition, the lack of customer stickiness and the power of platforms, there is a constant churn of marketing spend which is a huge bleed for growing brands.”
CAC Inflation is The Real Constraint
One of the clearest findings from the playbook is that acquisition efficiency, rising CAC and unstable ROAS, is the single biggest blocker to growth, cited by more founders than funding or category expansion. Moreover, over 70 per cent of brands rely on Meta as their primary acquisition channel, increasing vulnerability to auction pressure and platform-driven volatility.
Dutta links this directly to the limits of a digital-only mindset. “Limited offline expansion can trap brands in narrow urban digital markets, blocking broader scale,” he said.
This over-reliance on online performance marketing often leads to growth that looks strong on dashboards but weak on cash flow.
Highlighting their report, Pooja Shirali, Vice President, DSG Consumer Partners, said, “Across over 90 consumer brands we’ve partnered with at DSGCP, one truth is clear: brands that master Meta’s ecosystem don’t just grow, they change their entire trajectory through strategic clarity and disciplined execution. The real drivers of scale have less to do with viral moments, and everything to do with the long-term fundamentals that make milestones like the first INR 100 crore predictable, not accidental.”
Why Omnichannel is Unavoidable
The report suggests that brands that scale sustainably are those that reduce overdependence on paid digital acquisition and expand their distribution footprint. However, offline expansion brings its own complexity.
Dutta stresses that omnichannel is not an optional add-on, but a strategic shift. “D2C brands must adopt an omnichannel approach, blending online with offline retail for sustainable and scalable reach. Clearly the channels work very differently and management teams have to be prepared and capitalised for the long haul to tackle acquiring customers with channel-appropriate strategies,” he adds.
This aligns with the DSGCP report’s broader insight that scale breaks down when brands fail to adapt operating models as they grow.
Even within digital channels, performance weakens over time. The playbook finds that 62 per cent of founders report creative fatigue, where repeated creatives fail to sustain ROAS despite higher spends. At the same time, 55 per cent admit to under-investing in CRM and retention, with most brands reporting repeat purchase rates of just 10–30 per cent.
Both the data and expert opinion point to a common theme: brands that cross the INR 100 crore mark are structurally different. They obsess over unit economics, processes, and capital efficiency rather than topline growth alone.
As Dutta puts it, “Scalable brands that cross the growth hump have leadership obsessed with unit economics and omnichannel execution rather than chasing vanity metrics. Cash always was and is king, especially at early stages of growth.”
He adds that execution strength matters as much as strategy. “They are able to grow and steer teams that build and replicate processes fast rather than spending time, effort and money reinventing all the time, and do so without constant CXO intervention.”
As competition intensifies and capital becomes more selective, the next generation of INR 100 crore D2C brands is likely to be defined not by speed, but by the ability to compound cash flows, institutionalise processes, and scale distribution beyond digital platforms.
Saumyangi is a Senior Correspondent at Entrepreneur India with over three years of experience in journalism. She has reported on education, social, and civic issues, and currently covers the D2C and consumer brand space.
(Published in Entrepreneur India)
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November 4, 2025
Yash Bhatia, IMPACT
4 November 2025
It started with groceries. Quick commerce started delivering milk, bread, and eggs in 10–15 minutes, which seemed revolutionary enough in 2022. Then came the iPhone 14 launch, and suddenly, quick commerce wasn’t just about convenience; it was about spectacle. Overnight, India’s app-based delivery ecosystem became the stage for a new ritual: flagship products arriving at your doorstep faster than you can say ‘checkout.’
And now? Phones aren’t the limit. You can even order motorcycles online. Yes, motorcycles. Royal Enfield has partnered with Flipkart to list its entire 350cc portfolio, which will be delivered to five cities: Bengaluru, Gurugram, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai.
The lines between e-commerce and quick commerce are becoming increasingly blurred. Flipkart’s Flipkart Minutes and Amazon’s instant delivery options are proof that speed is no longer a differentiator; it’s table stakes. And as platforms race to expand, high-ticket items are joining the frenzy, from electronics and furniture to watches, fitness equipment, and premium kitchen appliances. For platforms, these products are goldmines of margin; the challenge lies in logistics and consumer trust.
According to a report by CareEdge Advisory, India had over 270 million online shoppers in 2024, making it the second-largest e-retail user base globally, while the e-commerce market grew 23.8% in 2024 over the year-ago period, it said. The report also added that Indians ordered Rs 64,000 crore of goods from quick-commerce platforms.
From the consumer standpoint, one of the challenges for consumers to buy high-ticket items from the quick commerce platforms is to get consumer trust, which used to be the case when e-commerce started its operations. Can quick commerce move to high-ticket items? Is quick commerce looking at these items as a branding exercise, or are they looking at them as a serious revenue stream channel?
Chirag Taneja, Founder & CEO, GoKwik – an e-commerce enablement platform, says what began as a branding exercise for D2C brands has now evolved into a credible revenue stream. “In the early days, high-ticket categories on D2C platforms saw limited traction,” he explains. “Trust was still being built, customers were unsure if their orders would even reach them. There were many friction points.”
But that’s no longer the case. According to GoKwik’s network data, high-ticket purchases (above ₹2,500) are no longer outliers, they’re becoming a consistent driver of topline revenue.
Interestingly, most of these premium purchases are powered by credit instruments from no-cost EMIs to instant credit options at checkout. “This reflects a clear shift in mindset,” says Taneja. “Consumers no longer view high-value spending as a financial strain. They see it as a set of manageable, bite-sized payments that help them aspire higher, quicker. It’s not just a financial enabler, it’s a psychological unlock that makes premium consumption feel accessible and routine,” he adds.
“With strong trust in delivery reliability, smooth returns, and credible brand backing, the ecosystem has bridged the gap that once kept premium shopping offline,” says Taneja.
Devangshu Dutta, Founder of a specialist consulting firm, Third Eyesight, thinks differently and points out that high-value items still make up a small slice of quick commerce sales. “The model thrives on simplicity, a limited product range on the platform’s end, and quick, low-friction decision-making on the consumer’s,” he explains.
That said, Dutta believes quick commerce can still play a strategic role for premium brands. “For high-value products, q-comm can be an excellent lever for driving velocity, testing market response, or amplifying brand visibility. But it should be viewed as one piece of the channel mix, not the primary sales driver.”
From the platform’s perspective, however, listing high-ticket products brings its own upside. “They create excitement, boost average transaction values, and improve realised margins,” Dutta notes. “Consumers are often drawn in by novelty, exclusivity, or status appeal, especially during big launches or limited-time promotions.”
Still, he adds a note of realism: “Premium and high-ticket purchases largely remain planned decisions. Most consumers continue to prefer established offline and e-commerce channels for such buys where trust in authenticity, return policies, and after-sales services still carry greater weight than instant gratification.”
Seshu Kumar Tirumala, Chief Buying and Merchandising Officer, BigBasket, says the company doesn’t look at electronics as a high-ticket item category but rather focuses on building a complete category experience for customers. “For example, if we list an Enfield bike, we’d also want to offer spare parts, servicing options, and extended warranties, because that’s how the category functions,” he explains.
Tirumala adds that BigBasket adopted the same approach when it ventured into mobiles and mobile accessories. “When we launched this category last year, it was a trial. Today, it’s a sizable part of our business,” he says. Currently, electronics and mobile accessories contribute 5–10% of BigBasket’s monthly sales, having grown 250–300% year-on-year since the first iPhone launch on the platform.
While the launch day drives the highest demand for flagship devices like the iPhone, Tirumala notes that the following one to two months see strong accessory sales, from AirPods and headphones to chargers and power banks. “On average, mobiles and accessories account for 7–8% of our total sales, peaking at 10% during the festive season. Overall, this category has grown from zero to 7–8% of our total business in just a year, and we expect it to reach around 25% next year,” he adds.
Currently, the platform offers select models from smartphone brands, including OnePlus, Realme, Redmi, Vivo, and Oppo.
The Bengaluru-based platform is now piloting the delivery of large home appliances across across select city areas in partnership with Croma. If successful, BigBasket plans to expand this model to other cities, further broadening its quick commerce offering beyond everyday essentials.
Taneja points out that the traditional e-commerce model, once driven by discounts and affordability, is now evolving toward experience and access. Over the next few years, two major shifts will shape this transformation: credit-first commerce, where EMIs become the default mode for premium purchases, and aspirational commerce, where consumers view e-commerce as the easiest path to lifestyle upgrades. Consequently, platforms will need to reposition themselves from being “where you save more” to “where you unlock more”, prioritising personalisation, trust, and a seamless shopping experience.
As quick commerce matures, it is no longer just about instant gratification; it’s becoming a bridge between aspiration and accessibility.
Platforms are proving that speed, trust, and seamless experience can coexist with high-value purchases.
(Published in IMPACT)
admin
October 24, 2025
Entrepreneur India
Oct 23, 2025
Indian consumers are increasingly opting for private labels and in-house brands over established ones, and retailers are taking note. According to EY’s ‘Future Consumer Index 2025’, more than half of India’s consumers are now choosing in-house brands over legacy labels.
The report highlights that 52 per cent of Indian consumers have switched to private labels for better value, while 70 per cent believe these in-house brands offer comparable or superior quality. Backed by this shift, retailers from BigBasket to DMart, and quick-commerce players like Zepto and Blinkit, are doubling down on their private label strategies, viewing them as a path to higher margins, stronger brand loyalty, and greater pricing control.
“Indian consumers’ growing preference for private labels reflects both short-term price pressures and a longer-term structural evolution in retail,” said Devangshu Dutta, CEO of Third Eyesight, speaking to Entrepreneur India.
Trending globally
The surge isn’t unique to India. A recent report by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) notes that globally, private labels now account for over 45 per cent of grocery volume and are expanding faster than legacy brands.
In India, this shift is becoming increasingly visible in-store. The EY report found that 74 per cent of consumers have noticed more private label options where they shop, and 70 per cent say these products are now displayed more prominently, often placed at eye level, signalling a strategic retail push.
Commenting on this trend, Angshuman Bhattacharya, Partner and National Leader, Consumer Products and Retail Sector, EY-Parthenon, said, “Consumer behaviour has traditionally evolved in response to changing economic situations, but the current shifts appear to be more permanent. Retailers are confidently launching private labels and allocating prime shelf space to them, while technology is enhancing the shopping experience by providing consumers with limitless options and the ability to compare products.”
From price-fighters to power brands
According to Dutta, private labels are no longer just “copycat” alternatives meant to undercut national brands.
“For retailers, not just in India but globally, lookalike private labels used to be tools at the opening price point to hook the customer, who saw them as credible, affordable alternatives to national brands,” he explained, adding, “However, as retailers have grown, they have gained both scale and expertise to widen and deepen their supply chains.”
Over time, he said, investments in formulation, packaging, and quality consistency have increased consumer trust.
“Private labels now compete on functional benefits rather than only on price, particularly in food staples and apparel, but also in brown goods and white goods, and increasingly in personal care and other FMCG categories,” he added. [Must read: “Private Label Maturity Model”]
Retailers scale up private labels
As demand for in-house brands grows, retailers are scaling up their strategies across sectors.
BigBasket, one of India’s largest online grocery platforms, reported that 35–40 per cent of its FY24 sales came from private labels like Fresho, BB Royal, and Tasties. The company aims to push this share closer to 45 per cent through expansion in frozen foods and ready-to-eat categories.
DMart’s private label arm, Align Retail, has reportedly more than doubled its sales in two years, touching INR 3,322 crore in FY25. The retailer’s in-house brands in staples, apparel, and home essentials have helped boost margins in a highly competitive retail landscape.
Zepto, the quick-commerce player, is taking private labels into the 10-minute delivery domain. Its brand Relish, focused on meats and eggs, has achieved INR 40 crore in monthly sales.
Meanwhile, Reliance Retail has also expanded its portfolio of private labels, including Good Life, Enzo, and Puric, across groceries, personal care, and household products, strengthening its broader FMCG play. In 2024, Reliance Retail’s Tira Beauty also announced the launch of its latest private label brand, Nails Our Way, signifying a major expansion in its beauty offerings.
Capturing a lion’s share in retail
Dutta noted that in India, private labels will remain a core pillar of modern retail strategy rather than a cyclical response to cost pressures.
“Consumers increasingly view retailers as brand owners rather than intermediaries. As private labels mature in branding and innovation, their growth aligns more and more with brand equity development rather than just opportunistic cost-saving,” he said.
From a retailer’s perspective, private labels deliver higher gross margins and greater strategic control, Dutta said. [Must read: “Private Label Maturity Model”]
Another report by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), using Circana data, found that in 2024, private-label sales in food and non-edible categories grew faster than bigger brands globally. While figures vary by region and quarter, the pattern remains consistent: private labels are outpacing traditional FMCG growth.
Collectively, these shifts show that private labels are becoming a major revenue driver for retailers in India, and are fast evolving from value alternatives into brands with genuine consumer pull.
(Published in Entrepreneur India)
