Quick commerce, power brands drive Piramal Consumer Healthcare's resilience amid global disruptions

Even as geopolitical tensions in West Asia, packaging cost inflation and supply chain disruptions continue to weigh on businesses, Piramal Consumer Healthcare says its strategy of backing power brands, tightening cost controls and capitalising on emerging consumer and channel trends has helped it deliver a strong performance.

"Our focus is on the power brands. We are able to grow 25% plus on our power brands. Through this phase, we are doubling down our investments on our power brands," Chief executive officer Sai Ramana Ponugoti told Fortune India on the sidelines of FICCI Massmerize 2026, outlining the company's response to the volatile operating environment.

The consumer healthcare business, which contributes around 15% of Piramal Pharma's revenues, reported revenue of ₹347 crore in the first quarter of FY27, up around 15% year on year. At the consolidated level, Piramal Pharma posted a 17.4% increase in revenue to ₹2,270 crore. EBITDA rose about 83% year on year to ₹195.2 crore, while the EBITDA margin expanded 308 basis points to 8.6% despite gross margin pressure.

Ponugoti said sustained investments behind key brands are helping the company absorb rising input costs through stronger revenue and volume growth. Alongside brand investments, cost management remains an "always on strategy" rather than a response to periods of disruption.

"We are looking at all the different buckets of costs, ensuring that we organise our teams very well and have a regular cadence on our cost-saving programmes," he said.

The third pillar of the company's strategy is identifying growth pockets across both consumers and distribution channels. Ponugoti said Piramal is tracking trends across product segments and innovations while also focusing on faster growing channels such as quick commerce, chemist stores, cosmetic outlets and opportunities in specific states.

Despite concerns over disruptions in packaging supplies following the West Asia crisis, the executive said the company's contingency plans have so far prevented any meaningful operational impact.

"Our resilient strategies have worked so far really well. We delivered a very strong quarter. It was a quarter in which we faced a good part of the cost headwinds. It was also a quarter of broad-based growth where we saw good success behind the strategies we are executing," he said.

Ponugoti said the company has prioritised maintaining product availability by ensuring adequate inventory of raw materials, packaging material and finished goods. At the same time, it is committed to maintaining product quality while protecting profitability through the ongoing uncertainty.

On the broader consumption environment, however, the company remains measured. Ponugoti said there are mixed signals, with earlier market data indicating a slowdown while recent corporate earnings have been stronger.

"There is a lot of data. I don't know what are the right signals. I'm still not sure what is happening to the consumer. But our growth is resilient and things are going good so far. We accelerated growth in the last two or three quarters and the recent quarter also was a strong one," he said, adding that the company will continue preparing for multiple risk scenarios even as it remains optimistic about its growth strategy.