AWL Agri Business, best-known for its Fortune edible oil brand, is maintaining its full-year volume growth guidance of 8–9% for FY27 despite geopolitical uncertainty and concerns of a likely El Nino impact on the monsoon season, MD and chief executive officer Shrikant Kanhere told FE. The company is betting on festive demand and the company’s fast-growing foods portfolio to drive growth this year.
“We don’t see much of an issue from a demand perspective. The second and third quarters are festive quarters. Demand will likely be stable unless El Nino creates disruptions,” he said.
The company posted a 7% growth in underlying volumes and a nearly 18% year-on-year (y-o-y) revenue growth during the June quarter (Q1) of FY27. Earning before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 34% year-on-year to Rs 693 crore, while profit after tax jumped 48% to Rs 351 crore backed by cost management and an improving product mix.
The foods business remained the standout performer, registering 18% volume growth and 22% y-o-y revenue growth to Rs 1,726 crore. While segment Ebitda crossed the Rs 100-crore milestone for the first time. The company derives 9% of its revenue from foods & FMCG versus 8% a year ago. Industry essentials gives the company 14% of its revenue now from 13% a year ago.
Edible oil, the company’s largest segment, contributing 77% to overall topline, down from 79% a year ago, reported a 15% y-o-y revenue growth to Rs 15,465 crore in Q1. But volume growth came in at 2% only due to supply-chain disruptions arising from the Middle East conflict and lower trade inventories in June, Kanhere said. However, he expects demand to improve over the coming quarters as the festive season approaches.
The company also successfully navigated commodity inflation during the quarter by passing higher input costs to consumers. Edible oil prices, for instance, rose between 5% and 10% amid higher crude oil prices.
“Given our brand equity, we have been able to pass it on to the consumer,” Kanhere said, adding that price increases had helped preserve margins despite higher packaging costs linked to crude price volatility.
While packaging material inflation remains an industry-wide challenge, AWL is focusing on operational efficiencies to offset cost pressures.
On expansion, the company plans to maintain annual capital expenditure of Rs 600–700 crore while continuing to evaluate acquisition opportunities to complement organic growth.
Distribution expansion also remains key. AWL Agri currently reaches about 970,000 outlets directly and plans to cross one million direct outlets by the end of FY27. Overall retail reach has expanded to around 2.6 million outlets, with plans to touch 3 million outlets in the future.
Alternative channels are emerging as another major growth engine. Quick commerce sales are growing at over 50% y-o-y, e-commerce at around 30% y-o-y, and the broader alternate-channel business is expanding 23% y-o-y, Kanhere said.
These channels now contribute 15–16% of the company’s overall volumes, up from less than 10% two years ago. “This is the future channel and we will keep investing in it,” Kanhere said, adding that the company expects alternate channels to account for about 20% of total volumes over time, with the foods portfolio likely to derive more than a quarter of its volumes from these platforms.