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September 1, 2026
Vikash Tripathi, Outlook Business
1 September 2026
Eight decades ago, the ‘nationalist businessman’ GD Birla helped prepare the ‘Bombay Plan’, which asked the state to pro-vide for the bare minimum needs of its people. His plan asked for 2,800 calories of well-balanced food per day, 30 yards of clothing per year and 100sq ft of housing per person.
Today, seventh-generation Aryaman Vikram Birla is betting on an entirely different opportunity: premium dining. “We continue to believe in the remarkable potential of the premium casual dining space, spurred by rising disposable income and evolving lifestyles,” the 29-year-old said after Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality acquired KA Hospitality in 2023.
The Birlas are not alone in trying to cash-in on rising prosperity in India. In the past five years alone, India’s top 10 industrial groups have announced new ventures in consumer-facing sectors or doubled down on existing ones. A rough tally of these investments crosses ₹4.8 lakh crore.
For decades, these same business houses built their dominance in core sectors like steel, power, aluminium, cement and chemicals, laying the industrial backbone of the economy. This helped the nation become a large producer of such goods and, in some cases, an exporter as well.
But as India’s economic conditions changed, so has the focus of its largest conglomerates.
For the likes of Tata, Aditya Birla, Bajaj and Bharti, that journey started way back. “What has changed in recent years is the speed and openness of the amount of capital being invested,” says Jitender Kumar, associate professor and programme chairperson, retail management programme at Birla Institute of Management Technology.
“It is not ‘opportunistic’ reasons, it’s structural reasons.”
Two factors seem to be driving the shift: the first is the arrival of an affluent consuming class that can buy branded and premium goods, and the second is the attraction of consumer businesses as a way to diversify revenue and, in some cases, improve the quality of earnings.
The Rise of Affluence
A couple of decades ago, if an Indian household had some extra cash, it often meant buying more of the same. Today, it increasingly means buying better. Even salt is being upgraded, from iodised to Himalayan pink or rock salt. The same shift is visible in bigger purchases: sports utility vehicles (SUVs) over hatchbacks, and ₹1cr-plus homes over budget flats.
But India isn’t simply consuming more. It is moving from basic consumption towards discretionary, branded and premium consumption. This boom is most clearly seen in the rapid expansion of the financial infrastructure that enables consumption. Formal retail credit penetration has more than doubled over the past decade, according to a TransUnion Cibil report, driven largely by personal loans, credit cards and consumer durable loans. Meanwhile, the government-backed Unified Payments Interface has untethered spending from the cash in a buyer’s wallet.
The signs show up across the broader consumption economy. Homes priced above ₹1cr accounted for 54% of total sales in 2025, up from just 30% in 2023—the market that decorative paints and home solutions are chasing.
Out of 4.7mn cars sold in the financial year 2025–26, SUVs accounted for more than half.
“The consumer market has grown substantially—not only through rising incomes but also the dramatic expansion of branded consumption across product verticals,” says Devangshu Dutta, founder of management-consulting firm Third Eyesight.
The bets are also getting more varied, from Reliance Retail tying up with global brands like Fenty and Skims to the Bharti Group bringing Olive Garden to India.
The Lure of Returns
For a passenger walking through an airport, the flight is only one part of the journey. There is coffee before boarding, food between flights, a lounge, retail outlets, parking and a host of other things to spend money on. For Adani Airports, those non-aero businesses are increasingly becoming the more lucrative part.
Its non-aero operations already generate about ₹2,500cr, with returns in the high-20% range, against roughly 12% from regulated aeronautical operations.
Jeet Adani, director of Adani Airport Holdings, expects the share of aeronautical revenue to fall to around 10% of total revenue, with non-aero becoming the bigger growth driver. The motivation can be seen as an escape from a return ceiling as much as a bet on rising affluence.
As Kumar puts it, consumer businesses help the conglomerates in two major ways. First, they help insulate them from volatile and often punishing commodity cycles, and second, they often offer far better returns with lower capital intensity and faster cash conversion.
Reliance Industries (RIL) shows how significant that shift can become. By 2025–26, its consumer-facing arms, Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Ventures and Reliance Consumer Products, together contributed over 40% of group revenue and nearly 60% of operating profit.
And there is another advantage. “A small business, when it wants to build a new venture, faces constant margin pressure and often has to build its supply chain from scratch. A large conglomerate can leverage its existing scale, infrastructure and supply chain to enter a new business far more efficiently,” explains Kranthi Bathini, equity strategist at WealthMills Securities.
Different Strokes
In chasing consumers, some conglomerates are following the fastest-growing categories, while others are using their existing industrial capabilities to enter consumer-facing businesses. One is trying to build an entire ecosystem around it. But the lines between these approaches are not always clean.
Tatas is doing both: building entirely new consumer brands while also using the industrial ecosystem it has built over decades.
For Tatas, the consumer opportunity has largely been about following where spending is moving. Their consumer ventures have followed this arc longest. It began decades ago with Lakmé (1952), Tata Tea (1962) and Titan (1984). Tanishq and the expansion of Trent under brands such as Zudio are only the latest examples.
At Tata Consumer Products, once largely a staples business built around salt, tea and pulses, the focus has been shifting towards value-added foods and beverages, with ₹7,000cr spent on the acquisitions of Capital Foods and Organic India in 2024. Across companies such as Tata Digital, Indian Hotels, Air India and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, the group has announced close to ₹93,180cr in investment over the past five years.
Aditya Birla’s jewellery chain Indriya and its move into premium hospitality belong to the same category of ‘pull-based’ diversification.
JSW is taking a different route. It is taking its existing industrial strengths one step closer to the buyer. The group, which has traditionally been focused on areas such as steel, energy and cement, has expanded into consumer-facing areas such as auto, paints and home solutions.
It launched JSW Paints in 2019, and acquired a controlling stake in paintmaker AkzoNobel India for ₹8,986cr last year. Its strategy is to leverage an established network of contractors, dealers, architects and builders to reach consumers.
The same strategy can be seen in its push into autos, acquiring a 35% stake in the Indian unit of China’s MG Motor in 2024, leveraging synergies with its established steel business.
At Tatas, too, group companies like Tata Steel, Tata Power, Tata AutoComp, Tata Technologies and TCS are doing significant businesses with Tata Motors.
Adani is also using an asset it already controls to move further into the consumer’s wallet. Adani Airports announced a ₹20,000cr investment in June to develop hotels, retail, entertainment and commercial infrastructure around its eight airports, and has signed hotel management agreements with IHG Hotels & Resorts for five hotels. City-side developments could contribute 30–40% of Adani Airport Holdings’ non-aero revenue.
Yet another example of the extension strategy is Aditya Birla Group’s attempt to diversify from cement, metals and textiles into decorative paints with Birla Opus.
RIL took a different approach: trying to connect multiple consumer businesses into one ecosystem. It expanded its retail network through new formats and acquisitions, added brands and partnerships, and then built a consumer-goods business around acquisitions such as Campa Cola and Lotus Chocolate.
That expansion was helped by billions of dollars raised by both Jio Infocomm and Retail Ventures from foreign investors in 2020. The group now plans to spend another ₹8,000cr expanding consumer goods manufacturing. The advantage of having that kind of scale is clear. If RIL has Ajio at a mall and, next to it, GAP and Herschel, it can negotiate better rental terms.
For conglomerates, Kumar points out, the next level of competition will not be based on investment, “but on the ability to create different consumer experiences, foster innovation and create lasting brand loyalty through the integration of these capabilities”.
Can Scale Win?
When Reliance Fresh opened its first stores in 2006, it was part of a rush by some of India’s biggest business groups to crack organised retail. Aditya Birla Group, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Spencer’s and Kishore Biyani’s Future Group were all betting that organised retail could transform the way Indians shopped. What followed was years of experimentation, losses and, for some, eventual retreat.
Birlas essentially gave up on grocery retail after a decade of heavy losses and exited entirely.
Future was pushed into insolvency after a controversial ₹24,713cr deal with RIL. Spencer’s is still trying to find its footing, with ₹249.33cr in net losses in 2025–26.
Conglomerates may have deeper pockets, but that does not automatically make them better at selling to consumers. India has seen some of those bets fail or take years to work. And even among today’s biggest players, the results are still mixed.
Tata Sons has been in this segment longer than the Ambanis, yet its consumer businesses still make up less than 40% of its total revenue —a share that has not changed since 2020.
These groups have what most standalone consumer companies don’t: capital, distribution, infrastructure, brands, scale.
But winning consumers takes something else entirely—reading what people want, building brands, innovating fast and earning loyalty.
“In B2B [business to business], it’s about manufacturing at scale, getting your costs down. Then you can compete. In B2C [business to consumer], it’s all about the product. With the right product at the right price, you have a chance to win in the market,” Parth Jindal, managing director of JSW Cement and JSW Paints, told Outlook Business in 2025.
Tata Sons’ chairman N Chandrasekaran hit the same wall while revamping the group’s consumer unit. “I have the money. But I don’t have the team to run it,” he had told Sunil D’Souza while hiring him to lead Tata Consumer Products in 2020.
Reliance and Tatas have had the longest head start, but even their journeys show how difficult it is to turn scale and capital into consumer businesses. Birla, JSW and Adani are now trying to make that transition in their own ways.
A longer tail—Bajaj in hospitals, L&T in retail finance and education, Mahindra in insurance and hospitality, Murugappa in electric mobility—is playing it safer, going deeper into what it already owns rather than chasing new categories.
What ties them together is a bet on consumers buying not just more but better, and on those consumers being worth more per rupee of capital than the industrial customers who built these houses.
The prize is growing, but so is the competition. Capital and scale may get these conglomerates through the door. They won’t guarantee a seat at the table.
(Published in Outlook Business)
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June 12, 2026
Christina Moniz, Financial Express/Brand Wagon
12 June 2026
Legacy luggage brand VIP Industries is shedding some of its old baggage. The company, which manufactures Skybags and Aristocrat along with its flagship VIP range, has gone beyond cringey makeovers solely to attract Gen Z, and has embarked on a transformation journey that leverages its legacy to purvey a fresh range of offerings.
The company is modernising its digital presence and supply chain to catch up with competitors.
Managing director Atul Jain admits that the company has been a bit slow on the e-commerce front. It is reinventing its online store, while also making its products available across other e-commerce channels. “Quick commerce is becoming an important channel since there are several use occasions and segments within the luggage market. For instance, consumers often make last-minute purchases for a weekend trip via quick commerce. School bags and backpacks for kids, also great gifting options, are seeing good demand on these platforms,” he says
The company, which once dominated the ₹16,000 crore organised luggage market in India, saw a bit of a shakeup last year when the Piramal family sold 32% of its stake to a private equity firm. But it continues to be among the top three players in the category with a 29-30% market share. “Luggage plays the role of a traveller’s companion. We are creating designs to fit that role,” says Jain. “For example, our new VIP suitcases have a coffee cup holder and our cabin trolley bag has an easy access compartment for devices like laptops and iPads.”
The transformation goes beyond the product. VIP’s 350 exclusive physical retail touchpoints in the country are being revamped to offer a new customer experience.
Unpacking opportunities
Overits 55 years, VIP has grown from a briefcase brand into Asia’s largest luggage maker, housing labels like Skybags, Aristocrat, and Carlton (premium segment). While VIP is a premium offering targeted at business and travellers, its Aristocrat brand operates in the mass market and the budget-friendly Alfa targets consumers who typically shop in the unbranded segment. Aristocrat and Alfa together contributed upwards of 40% to the company’s revenue in FY25, followed by Skybags (28%) and VIP (20%).
Like many legacy brands, the VIP Industries’ faces the challenge to ia, stay relevant among Gen Z buyers as a plethora of digital-first brands swamp the market. “VIP has lost ground on relevance and desirability to a generation for whom luggage, like sneakers, is an expression of identity. To them, VIP feels like their parents’ brand,” says Nisha Sampath, managing partner, Bright Angles Consulting. D2C players in the category operate in the business of “lifestyle accessories” and not for “luggage” per se, she points out.
With a design-forward approach, incorporating features like compression systems, silent wheels and charging ports, these new-age brands have embedded themselves in travel “culture”, while also being Instagram worthy, say experts.
Jain says Skybags is VIP’s Gen Z focussed brand, which has over 8,20,000 Instagram followers. “We are sharpening our positioning for Skybags in our design, advertising and marketing outreach, especially on social platforms. The brand has a clear differentiation with youthful colours and prints to attract younger consumers,” he adds.
While D2C players have seen notable growth in recent years, they don’t have the kind of trust and brand equity that VIP has cultivated across its brands, nor do they have the scale or revenue that legacy brands have, he says.
Experts believe there is a significant growth opportunity for legacy players given that the unbranded market still accounts for ₹13,000-14,000 crore. The important lever for legacy brands is to clearly demonstrate value beyond price. “The unorganised market competes heavily on affordability, so organised players need to communicate durability, warranty, after-sales service, and consistent quality – areas where they have a strong inherent advantage over unorganised alternatives,” says Praveen Govindu, partner at Deloitte India. He adds that these brands should also invest in advertising and communicate this value to the end consumer.
Not only are the needs different among different consumer groups, competitive pressures are also diverse. “VIP can segment the market more cleanly with its portfolio of brands if it maintains absolute distinction to ensure clear consumer targeting across not just product attributes and pricing, but also communication and channels,” says Devangshu Dutta, CEO, Third Eyesight.
(Published in Financial Express)
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May 25, 2026
Vaeshnavi Kasthuril, MINT
Bengaluru, 25 May 2026
Value fashion retailers across the country are likely to face margin pressure in the upcoming quarters as rising crude oil prices are driving up the cost of polyester and other fabrics. Executives at V-Mart Retail Ltd, Vishal Mega Mart Ltd, and Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd (KKCL) said crude oil-linked inflation has begun to push up yarn and sourcing costs across apparel and general merchandise categories, with the full impact expected to play out over the next few months.
Value fashion retailers face a double whammy: their heavy reliance on polyester and synthetic blends exposes them to crude-linked inflation, while their price-sensitive customer base leaves little room to pass on rising costs without hurting demand.
Apparel contributes about 22.8% of the overall revenue of the country’s largest retailer, DMart, in FY26. Rising polyester and fabric prices could also weigh on this share, which has been declining since FY20.
“We see almost 60% to 70% consumption of polyester yarn or poly-based product lines, which have or will get impacted,” said Lalit Agarwal during the company’s March-quarter earnings call. Agarwal said that yarn prices had already risen sharply in recent weeks. “There is a rise of almost 10% to 15% in the yarn prices, which effectively converts to almost 5% to 7% in the apparel prices,” he said.
“Cost increases are at multiple points. One, of course, is raw material, which is not only fabric, but also polyester buttons, thread, packaging, all of that,” Devangshu Dutta, founder of Third Eyesight, a consulting firm, said. “Because with value, you cannot really pass on the price hikes so readily to the consumer.”
Dutta said that lower- and middle-income consumers were already under financial stress from broader inflationary pressures, “so, they will not be able to absorb price hikes as easily as well.”
Ebitda margins in Q4FY26 are 10.9% for V-Mart Retail, 13.6% for Vishal Mega Mart and 19.1% for Kewal Kiran Clothing.
Double whammy for value segment
Gunender Kapur, CEO of Vishal Mega Mart, during the company’s March-quarter earnings call, said the inflationary impact had started becoming visible towards the end of April and would likely intensify in the coming months.
Despite rising input costs, retailers said they are avoiding broad-based price hikes on entry-level products amid fragile demand conditions in the value segment.
Entry-level products for these retailers range from ₹199 to ₹399, with some going up to ₹1,500.
“We would never tinker with the opening price points and the lower price points in these difficult times, because those are the customers who are the most vulnerable in inflationary situations,” Kapur said.
Hemant Jain, CEO of KKCL, said the company was willing to absorb part of the pressure on profitability to protect revenues and market share.
Jain also said the company had not yet implemented price hikes despite the inflationary environment.
To cushion the impact, companies said they are increasingly relying on cost optimisation, fabric innovation, premium fashion products and deeper expansion into smaller towns to sustain growth.
V-Mart said it was attempting to offset part of the inflation through alternative fabric usage, sourcing efficiencies and tighter inventory planning.
The retailer has also blocked orders in advance and is utilising existing yarn and fabric inventories available with vendors to soften the immediate impact of rising prices.
Vishal Mega Mart’s Kapur said it has revived cost-saving measures from the post-Ukraine cotton inflation cycle, including replacing cartons with gunny bags, removing polybags from some apparel categories, and shipping footwear without outer cartons.
The retailer has also increased the use of computer-aided design systems to reduce fabric waste during cutting.
Premium products, private labels offer buffer
These value retailers are also increasingly depending on premium and higher-fashion assortments, where consumers are relatively less price sensitive, to absorb selective price increases while keeping entry-level products affordable.
Kapur said Vishal Mega Mart’s large private-label portfolio, which contributes over 74% of its revenue, gives it greater flexibility to manage pricing pressure while maintaining discounts against national brands.
KKCL on the other hand, said it would absorb part of the inflationary impact rather than immediately pass on higher costs to consumers.
These retailers are also increasingly leaning on expansion into smaller towns and deeper markets to drive incremental growth as discretionary spending in larger urban centres remains uneven.
Value fashion retailers have underperformed the broader market amid growing concerns over rising input costs and margin pressure. Shares of V-Mart Retail, V2 Retail Ltd, Vishal Mega Mart and Kewal Kiran Clothing have fallen between 4% and 11% on a year-to-date basis, while the benchmark BSE rose 6.1% during the same period.
(Published in MINT)
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May 15, 2026
The ET Now Swadesh panel discussion focussed on the dual challenge facing the Indian economy: a weakening rupee and rising crude oil prices, which together are driving “imported inflation” and straining household budgets. Devangshu Dutta (Founder, Third Eyesight) put forth the following key points during the discussion (the video link is under the text summary below):
1. Dual Impact on Industry and Consumers:
2. Vulnerability of Small Businesses (SMEs):
3. Income vs. Expenditure Strain:
4. Ripple Effect of Crude Oil Beyond Logistics:
5. Shifts in Consumer Spending Patterns & “Shrinkflation”:
The panel noted that while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has adequate foreign exchange reserves to defend the rupee temporarily, the definitive solution relies heavily on the cooling down of global geopolitical tensions (such as the Middle East conflict affecting the Strait of Hormuz). Until then, Indian consumers will need careful financial planning and smart spending adjustments to navigate this inflationary phase. [Video below.]
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May 12, 2026
Anushka Jha & Kausar Madhyia, Afaqs
12 May 2026
On May 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation, made some appeals to the citizens of India. In addition to asking Indians to re-adopt Covid-like practices of working from home and refraining from travel abroad, the prime minister also appealed to the citizenry to stop buying gold for weddings for a year.
The appeals come in response to the global energy crisis and economic instability triggered by the US-Iran war and the consequent West Asia conflict, which makes import-dependent commodities like gold especially vulnerable.
The market reaction was almost immediate. Following the Prime Minister’s appeal, jewellery stocks saw sharp declines on the BSE. According to PTI, Senco Gold fell nearly 11%, Kalyan Jewellers dropped close to 10%, and Titan Company declined around 8%, while Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri slipped over 6%.
National interest and gold monetisation
Industry leaders have responded by balancing the Prime Minister’s vision with structural solutions.
“India’s economic strength must always come before individual preferences. Hon’ble Prime Minister’s appeal regarding responsible gold consumption reflects the larger national concern of rising imports and pressure on foreign exchange reserves,” says Rajesh Rokde, chairman of the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC).
He suggests that a revitalised Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) could “mobilise idle household gold” and “convert dormant gold into productive national capital”.
“Nation First. Responsible Gold Ecosystem Next,” he adds.
Avinash Gupta, the vice chairman of GJC, emphasises the emotional and cultural connection of gold to Indian households.
“But today, the nation also faces the challenge of balancing gold demand with economic stability.” He believes the GMS can channel gold into the formal economy, “reducing imports, easing CAD pressure and strengthening India’s financial ecosystem.”
India’s cultural fabric and the market reality
According to a report by MoneyControl, India imports 90% of its gold needs, making the country as one of the largest gold importers globally.
Gold is an integral part of India’s cultural fabric. It is not only a fitting gift for various auspicious occasions but also constitutes one of the most expensive elements of the ‘great Indian weddings’. Additionally, there are specific religious days dedicated solely to the purchase of gold, such as Akshaya Tritiya and Dhanteras.
However, external pressures are already weighing on the market.
Devangshu Dutta, founder of Third Eyesight, a retail management consulting firm, observes: “Jewellery retailers are already suffering from higher raw material costs, and rising gold and silver prices have driven several customers to postpone or reduce their purchases, including on significant dates such as Akshaya Tritiya.”
He notes that while wedding demand may remain strong, discretionary purchases will face a setback. “Companies will need to lean into lighter, more contemporary designs and lower caratage to sustain year-round demand.”
The potential impact of the appeal
Despite rising gold prices, approximately 700 to 800 tonnes of gold are consumed every year by Indian households, weddings, festivals, investment purchases, and rural savings, as per the same Money Control report.
Given the popularity of PM Modi, industry veterans expect a tangible shift in consumer behaviour.
“There will certainly be an impact,” says Arun Iyer, founder and creative partner at Spring Marketing Capital and former chief creative officer at Lowe Lintas, who played a significant role in the creation of Tanishq and several of its iconic advertisements.
“Given that the Prime Minister obviously has a very, very deep influence on our society, I think there will be an impact. People will think twice before buying gold.”
He further notes that while critical purchases will continue, “this quarter is expected to pose some challenges for the jewellery brands”.
Adaptation and brand strategy
According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, India’s gems and jewellery market stood at Rs 7,31,255 crore in January 2025 and is projected to increase to Rs 11,18,390 crore by 2030.
To sustain this growth, players like Suvankar Sen, CEO and MD of Senco Gold Ltd, are focusing on recycling.
“Today, almost 50% of our overall business is driven through recycled gold. This not only helps consumers optimise the value of their existing gold holdings but also contributes towards reducing dependence on fresh gold imports,” he says.
From a brand perspective, Saurabh Parmar, fractional CMO, believes the strategy must shift.
“In a scenario when the head of state says something like this, the brand faces a credibility problem, not a sales problem. The play is to shift from category promotion to category trust, lean on heritage, on long-term value, and on gold’s role in Indian culture.” He advises brands not to appear opportunistic but to signal, ‘We have always been there.'”
Given the popularity of Prime Minister Modi in India, his influence is likely to affect the performance of leading jewellery brands in the next quarter. This may include major players such as Tanishq, Malabar Gold & Diamonds, and Kalyan Jewellers, among others.
(Published in Afaqs)
