Brands
Britannia bites into growth as profits rise despite incentive crunch
Higher volumes lift Q3 numbers even as tax tweaks trim operating income.
MUMBAI: Biscuits may be everyday fare, but Britannia Industries Limited served up a fairly chunky set of numbers in the December 2025 quarter, proving that steady demand can still outweigh policy crumbs.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Britannia reported total income of Rs 5,029.28 crore, up from Rs 4,655.08 crore a year ago. Revenue from operations came in at Rs 4,969.82 crore, driven largely by sale of goods worth Rs 4,885.23 crore, compared with Rs 4,463.30 crore in the same quarter last year.
Profit before tax rose to Rs 919.03 crore from Rs 778.39 crore a year earlier, while net profit for the quarter climbed to Rs 682.14 crore, up from Rs 582.30 crore in the December 2024 quarter. Earnings per share followed suit, rising to Rs 28.23 from Rs 24.15.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2025, the company posted revenue from operations of Rs 14,432.67 crore, compared with Rs 13,510.48 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine-month period stood at Rs 1,857.33 crore, up from Rs 1,618.73 crore, underlining consistent growth across quarters.
Costs, however, continued to nibble at margins. Total expenses for the December quarter rose to Rs 4,107.59 crore from Rs 3,874.65 crore a year ago, with higher employee benefits expense of Rs 214.73 crore and other expenses of Rs 955.28 crore reflecting inflationary pressures and scale-up costs.
A notable dent came from policy changes. Following a reduction in State Goods and Services Tax rates in September 2025, Britannia’s entitlement to state fiscal incentives fell, reducing other operating revenue by about Rs 65 crore in the December quarter. That said, the impact was partially cushioned by recognition of Rs 45.72 crore as fiscal incentive income relating to the period from April 2024 to September 2025, after receiving approval from a state government.
Other income for the quarter stood at Rs 59.46 crore, including dividends of Rs 34.53 crore received from subsidiaries. Over the nine-month period, dividend income from subsidiaries totalled Rs 93.47 crore, providing an additional buffer to the bottom line.
For context, in the year ended March 31, 2025, Britannia had reported revenue from operations of Rs 17,942.67 crore and net profit of Rs 2,177.86 crore, making the current nine-month performance broadly in line with its longer-term growth trajectory.
All told, while fiscal incentives may be shrinking, Britannia’s core business continues to rise to the occasion, showing that in the FMCG game, volume, brand loyalty and scale can still help a company keep its balance even when the policy recipe changes.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
