Marico raises ad spend by 18.5% in FY2025; Saugata Gupta re-appointed as MD & CEO

Mumbai: The FMCG major Marico’s ad spends were up 18.5% to Rs 1,128 crore in FY2025 vs. Rs 952 crore it spent in FY2024. The company’s FY2025 A&P spending was 10.4% of sales, up from 9.9% in FY24.

Marico increased its advertising and promotional (A&P) spends in Q4 FY25, investing Rs 305 crore — a 35% year-on-year jump from the Rs 226 crore it spent in the December quarter, despite ongoing input cost pressures. 

This accounted for 11.2% of sales, the highest A&P intensity recorded in over a year, reflecting a strong push toward brand building.

In Q4 FY 2025, the company’s adex stood at Rs 305 crore, up 4% from Rs 293 crore it spent in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

The company attributed the heightened investment to its continued efforts to bolster brand equity and drive portfolio diversification.

Marico announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 2, 2025, approved the re-appointment of Saugata Gupta as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer for a further period of two years, from April 1, 2026, till March 31, 2028. 

Gupta joined Marico in 2004 as the Head of Marketing and was elevated to CEO of India Business in 2007. Since 2014, Gupta has been the Managing Director and Chief Executive Office of the Company.  

Marico’s Q4FY25 results highlights 

• India Volume and Revenue Growth were at a 14-quarter high. 
• Consolidated revenues crossed the Rs 10,000 cr. milestone in FY25
• Foods and Premium Personal Care touched Rs 2000 cr. ARR
• International business sustained robust double-digit growth momentum
• FY25 Reported Net Profit up 10%

In Q4FY25, Revenue from Operations was at Rs 2,730 crore, up 20% YoY, with underlying volume growth of 7% in the India business and constant currency growth of 16% in the international business. 

Net profit for the quarter rose by 8% YoY to Rs 343 crore, compared to Rs 318 crore in the same period last year. 

In FY25, Revenue from Operations was at Rs 10,831 crore, up 12% YoY, with underlying volume growth of 5% in the India business and constant currency growth of 14% in the international business. 

Profit for FY25 stood at Rs 1,629 crore, marking a 10% YoY increase.

In a media statement, Marico said that the India business continued to deliver sequential improvement in volume growth in this quarter. Offtakes remained strong, with ~95% of the business gaining or sustaining market share and ~80% of the business gaining or sustaining penetration, both on MAT basis. 

The International business delivered another stellar quarter and closed ahead of internal targets. Bangladesh sustained its strong momentum, posting double-digit constant currency growth. MENA and South Africa continued their high-paced growth trajectory.

Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO commented, “The fiscal year 2024-25 has closed on a momentous note with consolidated revenues crossing the Rs 10,000 crore mark. As set out at the start of the year, we have met our double-digit revenue growth aspiration, backed by top-quartile volume growth in the India business and robust growth in the International business. While the core portfolio continued to garner market share and penetration gains, the scale-up momentum in Foods and Digital-first brands continued to have a markedly positive impact on topline and bottom-line growth. In the International business, we have made visible strides towards building presence in premium personal care categories across markets, which is leading to broad-basing of the business. While we expect elevated input costs to be transient headwinds in the near term, we remain focused on leveraging the building blocks in place to deliver industry-leading growth in FY26.” 

Marico expects gradually improving growth trends in the core categories of the India business on the back of moderating trends in retail and food inflation as well as the promise of a healthy monsoon season. 

“This will be further aided by our ongoing initiatives to support select General Trade (GT) channel partners and transformative expansion in our direct reach footprint under Project SETU. We also continue to draw confidence from healthy off-takes, penetration and market share gains in our key portfolios. We will continue our focus on driving differential growth in our urban-centric and premium portfolios through the organised retail and E-Commerce channels,” it added.