Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) on Monday inaugurated its first integrated greenfield manufacturing plant in Chengalpattu district on the outskirts of Chennai, with an investment of Rs 515 crore. The facility has the potential to generate 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Speaking on the sidelines, the company’s MD & CEO, Sudhir Sitapati, said the slowdown in urban consumption in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is “transitory” in nature and that higher government spending along with income tax relief will drive demand, particularly in urban areas.
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“I think some specific factors in Q3 (FY25) impacted urban consumption, but they don’t seem to be there. One of them was food inflation, which appears to have eased sharply in Q4 (FY25),” Sitapati said.
He noted that while urban demand was an exception, rural demand, which had struggled for a longer period, appears to have recovered. “Rural markets have actually picked up, but they were compensated by a very poor urban performance in Q3 FY25. Our own anticipation is that the rural recovery will be faster than the urban recovery,” Sitapati said.
He said the rural recovery is driven by welfare spending by the central and state governments, along with some state-level consumption-focused initiatives.
Spread across 27 acres, the Chengalpattu plant is GCPL’s largest single investment in manufacturing expansion. It will manufacture some of its best-selling brands, including Cinthol, Godrej No.1, GoodKnight, Godrej Aer, and Godrej Expert Hair Colour, catering to both domestic and export markets.
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Sitapati said the factory has a revenue-generating potential of Rs 2,000 crore once all planned production lines are fully operational. In the first phase, it will have two production lines each for soap, hair color, and GoodKnight electric mosquito repellent, along with one line for the Godrej Aer brand of air fresheners. “It will approximately take 12-15 months to reach that capacity,” he added.
The company plans to sell these products in the domestic market as well as export to markets like Latin America, US, and Africa. The Chengalpattu facility is GCPL’s 31st manufacturing plant. The company is also investing another Rs 500 crore to expand capacity at its Malanpur plant in Madhya Pradesh.
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