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Mint says the cost picture is messy: palm oil & packaging are easing, but sugar, coffee and fishmeal are pricier, so margin relief will be uneven across food, beverage and HPC portfolios. Wipro Consumer’s CEO notes palm oil has cooled in recent weeks and expects some margin improvement, but any price cuts will depend on competitive moves.
Marico took a hit from copra (up sharply YoY; Parachute prices were hiked over the year), though management says copra is ~16% off peak and could normalise by March. On beverages, coffee is the outlier (Arabica/Robusta up QoQ), while cocoa is correcting; tea is soft.
A weaker rupee could offset the good news by raising imported-input costs (palm, cocoa). Offsetting tailwinds: crude is lower YoY/QoQ, which helps freight/packaging, and analysts expect volume-led growth in H2 FY26 as GST 2.0 settles.
Net: watch category-level margins rather than a broad recovery.
