Brands
Parag milk foods posts record Rs 1,013 cr revenue despite cost surge
MUMBAI: Parag milk foods limited has clocked its highest-ever quarterly revenue at Rs 1,013 cr in Q3 FY26, rising 14 per cent year-on-year, driven by robust demand across core dairy categories and a sharp surge in its new-age businesses.
Volume growth stood at 8 per cent, with ghee, cheese and paneer posting a combined 12 per cent rise, while value growth touched 21 per cent. The company’s premium verticals Pride of Cows and Avvatar delivered a striking 123 per cent jump in revenues, crossing Rs 100 cr in a quarter for the first time.
Gross profit increased 9 per cent to Rs 262 cr, though margins softened to 25.9 per cent as milk prices climbed nearly 20 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA slipped 3 per cent to Rs 77 cr, while adjusted profit after tax stood at Rs 35 cr.
For the nine months ended December FY26, revenue rose 14 per cent to Rs 2,872 cr, with adjusted PAT up 17 per cent to Rs 109 cr.
The company continued aggressive brand-building, expanding Gowardhan and Go through television and digital campaigns on Kaun Banega Crorepati season 25 and Super Dancer, targeting mass family audiences. To deepen household penetration, the company introduced Gowardhan cow ghee in a 20 ml sachet priced at Rs 20, aimed at first-time and value-conscious consumers across urban and rural markets.
Premium brand Pride of Cows strengthened its positioning through multi-platform campaigns focused on purity, traceability and quality. Meanwhile, Avvatar reinforced its sports nutrition credentials by onboarding Janhvi Kapoor as the face of its marketing initiatives to connect with younger, health-conscious consumers.
Parag milk foods executive director Akshali Shah, said the milestone quarter reflected strong consumer trust and the company’s ability to navigate inflation through pricing, portfolio mix and premiumisation.
Shah noted that commodity inflation is likely to persist in the near term, but said the company is well positioned to navigate the pressure through strong brands, superior offerings and a disciplined focus on innovation and distribution expansion to deliver long-term profitable growth.
Founded in 1992, Parag milk foods limited operates manufacturing facilities at Manchar in Maharashtra and Palamaner in Andhra Pradesh, with an integrated dairy farm, Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farm Limited, housing over 5,000 cows. The company markets cow milk-based products under Gowardhan and Go brands, runs the premium farm-to-home brand Pride of Cows, and operates in sports nutrition through Avvatar, India’s first 100 per cent vegetarian whey protein brand.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
