MNC 500: Why edible oil major AWL Agri is transforming into a food giant

AT A TIME when most FMCG CEOs are talking about premiumisation, micro-segmenting consumers, and offering specialised solutions, Angshu Mallick refuses to shed his commodity mindset. “We are a commodity player by nature, and we like to play in commodities. Our trading team otherwise will have no work. They are obsessed with trading,” says the executive deputy chairman of AWL Agri Business (the makers of Fortune edible oil).

In the past 25 years, Mallick has built a mammoth business selling branded edible oil, which is extremely vulnerable to global oil price fluctuations. In recent years, he has also built brands out of commodities such as rice, dal, soyabean, and atta. While the bulk of AWL’s revenue of ₹64,753 crore (as of FY25) comes from edible oil, its staples business — built over the last five years — generated ₹6,000 crore in revenue; the plan is to scale this into a ₹10,000-crore business by 2027.