MAM
Mother’s Recipe strengthens its instant mix category; unveils healthy Indian breakfast option ‘Instant Upma’
MUMBAI: Breakfast is regarded to be a significant meal because it breaks the period of overnight fasting, replenishes your glucose supply and offers other essential nutrients to maintain your energy levels up all day long. Keeping in mind the significance of breakfast, Mother’s Recipe, India’s leading household name in the ethnic food division, has expanded their instant mix category with the launch of traditional Indian breakfast Upma. The South Indian speciality prepared using the freshest and authentic ingredients like semolina (suji), Black gram dal (Urad dal) Onion, green chilli, cumin, curry leaf, lemon powder and asafetida seasoned for your convenience with mother’s magical touch. Consumers just need to add hot water and it is ready to eat in five minutes.
Speaking about the category, Sanjana Desai, Chief Strategy officer, Mother’s Recipe said, “The instant food is gaining popularity in India because of the comfort and accessibility of products that provide the genuine flavour of Indian food across retail channels. According to a report by Future Market Insights, India’s instant food market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% and reach a valuation of US$ 284.4 Mn by 2020. The key factors driving the instant food is employee affluence and growing millennial customers along with a rise in working women's population which has resulted in altering lifestyles and less time for home cooking. As a result, we continuously innovate in line with the growing consumer expectations while providing our customers with the finest quality & tastier products.
Mother’s Recipe’s Upma pack is available in 73gm Cup Upma and 170 gm pillow pouch across all hypermarkets, local stores, exclusive brand outlets and Mother’s Recipe e-store in major & mini metro cities. Cup Upma is competitively priced at Rs.50/- and pillow pouch at Rs. 35/-, the instant mix Upma has shelf life of nine months.
The current company scenario:
Mother’s Recipe was founded in 2001 by Desai Brother’s Ltd. and has successfully expanded to all regions across India as well as 42 countries around the world. What started as a pickle brand has today grown exponentially, consisting of a diverse product range including, Condiments, Pastes, Spices, Papads, Appalams, Cooking Pastes, Curry Powders, Ready to Cook Spice Mixes, Ready to Eat meals (Canned and Retort Packing), Mango Chutneys, Ethnic Chutneys, Chaat-Chutneys, Canned Vegetables, & Mango Pulp.
Sanjana Desai, Chief Strategy Officer, Mother’s Recipe, said, “The FMCG market is ever-evolving, and consumers are always looking for something new and exciting. The Indian FMCG market has been growing steadily at 25% per annum. Even the pickles, where Mother’s Recipe are market leaders have been growing at 10.7% CAGR and RTE/RTC categories at 17% CAGR. With a market that is cluttered with multiple players, Mother’s Recipe as a brand has continued to stand out due to its diverse range of products, and constant focus on reinvention, to meet consumer demands”
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
