MTR Foods Maker Orkla India Eyes Faster Growth Through Premiumisation, Q-Comm & Acquisitions: CEO

Orkla India, the maker of MTR Foods, aims to become one of the country's fastest-growing multi-category food companies over the next five years, driven by premiumisation, health and wellness offerings, rapid expansion of quick commerce, and potential inorganic opportunities, said its MD and CEO Sanjay Sharma.

Orkla India, part of Norwegian conglomerate Orkla ASA, operates in the country with brands such as MTR, Rasoi Magic and Eastern, and is looking to consolidate the fragmented Indian spices industry through further acquisitions while remaining open to partnerships in the convenience foods space, he said.

The company, among the largest exporters of branded spices, gets around 21% of its revenue from exports and is encouraged by upcoming Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with key markets, which could improve market access and create a more stable business environment over the next 6-12 months, Sharma said.

While Sharma refrained from sharing specific revenue or profitability projections, he said the company remains confident it can sustain its historical double-digit growth trajectory as consumer preferences evolve and new channels gain prominence.

"We want to be one of the leading, fastest-growing multi-category companies in India. We have always and historically delivered a strong double-digit growth as far as the business is concerned. We are quite confident that we will continue to deliver that in the future as well," Sharma told PTI in an interview.

According to Sharma, premiumisation and changing consumer preferences, especially among Gen Z consumers, are creating new growth opportunities for the company.

He said consumers are increasingly seeking fresh products with fewer preservatives and are becoming more conscious about nutrition and wellness, and that the rise of e-commerce and quick commerce is enabling food companies to meet such demand through shorter shelf-life products and direct-to-consumer models.

The company is also expanding its health and wellness portfolio in response to growing demand for protein-rich and nutritionally enhanced foods.

"We have actually launched protein-enriched poha, protein-enriched upma, protein-enriched dosa and idli. We are now working on several more product concepts around this," Sharma said.

Quick commerce is emerging as a key growth driver for Orkla India, with e-commerce contributing about 8.9% of sales and growing at 38%, against an average industry growth of 11.5%. Industry projections peg quick commerce growth at 18-20% over the next three to five years, he said.

Besides organic growth, Orkla India is also evaluating acquisition opportunities to strengthen its presence and scale in the domestic market.

"We will continue to grow this business and become bigger. And then we are looking for inorganic opportunities also to ensure that we add to the organic scale that we have," Sharma said.

Orkla India, which was listed on November 6, 2025, had clearly stated in its DRHP that it is interested in consolidating the spices industry over a period of time, besides looking for players willing to partner with it in this space, he said.

"Besides the spice industry, we are also open to doing partnerships and acquisitions in the convenience food space. So if there are any good opportunities out there, we would certainly be open to viewing them and seeing if we can do some acquisitions," he said.

According to Sharma, only 40% of India's spices market is currently branded, leaving significant headroom for growth. The company's total addressable market stands at around ₹80,000 crore, he said.

"That means 60% of the market is still unbranded in this segment. So we still believe that there is a huge headroom to grow," Sharma said, adding that the job ahead is to "drive penetration, drive frequency of usage and get people to buy more and more of our products".

Sharma, however, ruled out the ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages segment as a strategic priority despite its double-digit growth in recent years.

"This is a segment not really of very big interest to us... It certainly does not form the core of our long-term strategy," he said, noting Orkla's presence in the category — through its Badam drink mix and canned drinks — came through an acquisition rather than deliberate entry.

On competition intensifying in the packaged foods and spices space, with several large FMCG players entering the category in recent years, Sharma said the market was always competitive but earlier lacked visibility, given that most spice brands were regional and family-run.

"Just because large companies are coming into it does not mean that the market is not developed. The market is very well developed... It's a very good, interesting category that will continue to develop in the market," he said.

Orkla ASA entered the Indian market in 2007 by acquiring MTR. In 2019, Orkla expanded its India portfolio by acquiring Eastern from McCormick, again through an open process, partnering with the Miran family that had built the brand.