(Reuters) -India’s Patanjali Foods reported a 73.8% increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, becoming the latest packaged edible oil manufacturer to outperform the broader consumer goods sector due to product price increases.
The Sunrich edible oil maker’s profit after tax rose to 3.59 billion rupees ($42 million) for the fourth quarter ended March 31, from 2.06 billion rupees a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing.
Branded packaged oils, household staples in India, have shown resilience despite an inflation-driven slowdown in branded consumer goods sales over the last few quarters benefiting from price adjustments made by the makers to counter higher raw material costs.
Larger rival AWL Agri Business, previously known as Adani Wilmar, posted a 22% jump in quarterly profit before raising its sales forecast for current financial year. Saffola owner Marico, too, reported upbeat results.
Revenue from Patanjali’s edible oils business, which makes up nearly 75% of the total, rose 20.9% during the quarter, driven by rising prices.
Overall revenue increased by 17.8% to 96.92 billion rupees, even as a broader slowdown reduced its consumer goods revenue by 16.5%.
“We anticipate the second half of FY26 to be strong from a demand standpoint,” company said in a statement.
Shares of Patanjali, flat this year as of Wednesday’s close, ended 1.6% higher ahead of the results on Thursday.
($1 = 85.4820 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
