Asheth Rrajivv’s Post

Octane Advisory has been formed to turn years of experience in launching and growing alcoholic beverage brands across markets, into a focused, independent service for brand owners who are looking to work in Odisha and Jharkhand at highly optimal overheads. Instead of activity being limited to employment or basic promoter work, an extended sales engine was envisioned—using data-led targeting, frontline execution, and strong trade and Excise & Beverage Corporation relationships to help brands enter, scale, and sustain growth in these tightly regulated markets.

CavinKare gears up for a pan-India expansion with new launches and variants Cavinkare, the FMCG major behind brands like Chik, is accelerating its pan-India growth strategy, expanding distribution beyond its southern stronghold into the west, north, and east, said CFO Ananda Shailani an exclusive interaction with ETCFO. The company has already built traction in Rajasthan and is now targeting Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Maharashtra, and eventually Jammu & Kashmir, while progressing due diligence for deeper expansion in East India. Product innovation at the core Cavinkare is strengthening its product pipeline across personal care, professional care, and beverages, with multiple new launches and variants expected over the next few months and into next year. Expansion in salon-focused professional care is also underway. Growth outlook Beverages: low double-digit growth Personal care: high single-digit growth, outpacing category averages In FY25, Cavinkare reported 9% revenue growth to ₹1,940 crore. Shalini also highlighted ongoing investments in AI and automation within finance, while noting that new compliance regimes including labour codes and the DPDP Act require significant organisational effort despite GST processes being largely automated. #Cavinkare #FMCG #PanIndiaExpansion #ProductLaunch #AnandaShalini #CFOInsights #PersonalCare #Beverages #DistributionStrategy #AIinFinance #Compliance #IndiaInc #ETCFO #BusinessGrowth

Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh dominate India's milk production. Yet the country's largest dairy processor and most trusted brand-GCMMF (Amul)-comes from Gujarat, which ranks 4th in production. This gap between resource strength and market leadership is a powerful leadership lesson. What leaders in Gujarat did differently: 1️⃣ Built systems, not dependence Leadership focused on creating a strong cooperative structure-village societies, district unions, and a professional state federation-so success did not depend on individuals but on systems. 2️⃣ Empowered the producer, not the hierarchy Farmers are not suppliers; they are owners. Transparent testing, timely payments, and profit sharing created trust, which ensured consistent milk flow even during market volatility. 3️⃣ Separated governance from execution Strategic oversight remained with cooperatives, while day-to-day operations were run professionally, reducing political and administrative interference. 4️⃣ Thought beyond volume to value Leadership invested in branding, quality, and value-added products-butter, cheese, ice cream, whey, chocolates-turning milk into a consumer brand rather than a commodity. 5️⃣ Played the long game While others chased short-term procurement or price control, Amul focused on decades of consistency-building capability, infrastructure, and farmer loyalty. The contrast: High-production states had more milk, but leadership gaps led to: ➡️ Fragmented procurement ➡️ Weak aggregation ➡️ Limited branding ➡️ Poor scalability Leadership takeaway: ➡️ Resources create potential. ➡️ Leadership creates results. ➡️ Systems sustain success. This lesson applies to manufacturing, service operations, project execution, and team leadership: Organizations don't fail due to lack of resources-they fail due to lack of aligned leadership and execution discipline. #Leadership #Amul #ExecutionExcellence #indiandairy #dairyindustry #SystemsThinking #IndianIndustry #BusinessLessons

How did a small local farsan shop transform into a ₹1,800 CRORE FMCG powerhouse? The rise of Gopal Snacks is one of India’s most underrated business stories. Gopal began as a tiny snack stall in Bhavnagar. With a simple but powerful vision: “Better taste. Better hygiene. Better packaging.” While others were selling farsan… Gopal was building a brand. And that mindset changed everything 👇 Local fresh snacks → Packaged, scalable products ₹5–₹10 price points → Mass-India affordability Manual process → Automated, modern manufacturing Limited outlets → Strong, pan-India distribution Fast growth → Successful IPO & ₹1,800+ crore revenue engine 🚀 People used to say, “The snacks market is too crowded.” Gopal proved: Even the most crowded markets reward those who get taste, trust, and timing right. The most inspiring part? A “small-city mindset” turned into a national FMCG force. Now I’m curious 👇 Which regional food brand do you think can become the next pan-India success story? Drop your thoughts — I’m reading every comment. #GopalSnacks#IPO2024 #FMCGIndia #BusinessCaseStudy #BrandBuilding #Leadership #GrowthMindset

Udhaiyam x Reliance: Big signal for regional staples brands Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) acquiring a majority stake in Udhaiyams Agro Foods is more than just an M&A headline – it is a strategic validation of the power of regional heritage brands in India’s FMCG story. Udhaiyam has spent over three decades building deep trust in Tamil Nadu across pulses, rice, spices, snacks and idli batter, supported by strong last-mile distribution. RCPL now brings capital, national retail muscle and brand-building capabilities to scale this “Tamil Nadu staple” into a true pan-India player. For other homegrown staples brands – from labels like Home Brands in pulses and provisions, to regional spice, oil and rice brands – this deal sends three clear messages: - Strong regional brands with genuine consumer trust are now strategic assets, not just “local players”. - Large FMCG and retail houses are actively looking to partner, acquire and scale such brands, rather than build from scratch in every micro-market. - The combination of local brand equity + national distribution + organised capital can unlock value that family-run businesses alone may struggle to capture. This is also a cue for promoters of similar brands to: - Formalise operations, governance and financial reporting. - Invest in packaging, consistency and brand IP. - Get “investment ready” – because organised capital is clearly coming for high-quality regional staples plays. In many ways, the Udhaiyam–RCPL deal is a template: respect the brand’s legacy and promoters, retain minority skin in the game, and use big-platform distribution to take a Tamil Nadu success story to the rest of India. #Udhaiyam #Reliance #FMCG #RegionalBrands #Staples #MAndA #ConsumerBrands #TamilNadu

🌾✨ Dev Raj Tulsi Ram – Guarseed Market Update ✨🌾 Date: 18 December 2025 🕒 (Based on market data of 17 December 2025) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔄 Guarseed Spot Markets Largely Steady Guarseed prices in major physical markets traded largely steady yesterday. Only select mandis recorded marginal gains, while overall sentiment remained cautious due to muted buying interest and strictly need-based trade. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📍 Spot Market – Region-wise Update Delhi ▪️ Prices remained unchanged Gujarat ▪️ Deesa & Kadi: Steady ▪️ Gondal & Rajkot: Slight firmness ▪️ Dhanera: Traded within range, no net change Haryana ▪️ Adampur: Wide price range due to quality variation ▪️ Hissar, Mahendragarh, Rewari & Pathera: Steady ▪️ Sirsa: Unchanged despite lower buyer participation Madhya Pradesh ▪️ Neemuch: Recorded a modest rise Rajasthan ▪️ Bikaner & Churu: Marginal gains ▪️ Hanumangarh & Sangaria: Slight increase ▪️ Jodhpur & Lunkaransar: Firmed up ▪️ Rawatsar: Marginally weaker 👉 Trade sources highlighted that arrivals remained manageable and buying stayed need-based, keeping spot prices range-bound. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📉 Futures Market – Profit Booking Pressure NCDEX Guarseed ▪️ December 2025: Closed lower ▪️ January 2026: Also declined Open interest dropped sharply in both contracts, indicating long liquidation and profit booking after the recent recovery. NCDEX Guar Gum ▪️ December 2025: Corrected ▪️ January 2026: Also eased Here too, 👉 Open interest declined 👉 Reflecting trimming of positions amid weak follow-through buying ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔍 Overall Market Sentiment The guar complex currently lacks strong demand-side triggers: ▪️ Spot availability remains adequate ▪️ Fresh export cues are limited ▪️ Industrial demand has not shown any major improvement ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📊 Dev Raj Tulsi Ram – Market Outlook 👉 In the near term, guarseed and guar gum prices are expected to remain range-bound 👉 Market direction will depend on: ▪️ Futures market sentiment ▪️ Any change in industrial or export demand ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ Disclaimer This report is for market information purposes only. Trading or procurement decisions should be taken at one’s own risk after independent verification.

Bikaji: A case study in disciplined scaling Scale is not about speed. It is about sequence. Founded in 1987 in Bikaner by Shivratan Agarwal, Bikaji was built with a clear strategic constraint: How do you industrialize a traditionally handmade product without diluting trust? The answer was not aggressive expansion. It was operational depth. Key strategic decisions: 1. Regional dominance before national ambition Bikaji deliberately avoided early metro expansion. Instead, it built leadership positions in Rajasthan, Assam, and Bihar—markets where repeat consumption and brand loyalty created predictable cash flows. 2. Capability-led differentiation Rather than compromising on product texture, the company invested in custom machinery to replicate handmade quality at scale. This created a manufacturing moat that competitors struggled to replicate. 3. Brand amplification, not brand creation For decades, growth was driven by product trust and distribution strength. Only after the foundation was secure did the company leverage #Amitabh Bachchan to accelerate national recall. Outcome: • World’s largest producer of Bikaneri Bhujia • Presence across 25+ international markets • Publicly listed in 2022 • Enduring brand equity built over decades Executive takeaway: Sustainable scale is not achieved by expanding faster. It is achieved by building advantages that expansion cannot dilute. Boards don’t reward speed. They reward repeatability, defensibility, and control. #business #growth #branding #FMCG #strategy #linkedin #BrandBuilding #Indianstartups #ScalingSmart #LinkedinGrowth #Scaling #hustle

IS THIS SHRINKFLATION OR INCLUSIVE ECONOMY? SHRINKFLATION is a form of inflation where in product pack size is reduced but unit price is kept the same. Companies use Shrikflation to off-set rising cost, avoid consumer backlash and maintain profit. While these steps are quite logical. One more perspective is missed in this. Here it goes…!! Recently, while buying my morning cup of tea after a walk (At Bhavnagar, Gujarat), I observed that the cup size was too small but price was Rs 5.00 per cup. While price did not hurt me, the quantity he served was a concern to me. When I inquired, tea vendor’s reply compelled me to scratch my head. He said, “We have to take care of those customers who can’t afford Rs 10 per cup of tea”. His view point was further endorsed by a nearby customer who said, “Sir, you might be earning Rs 25,000 per month. But we sometimes find it hard to earn Rs 10,000 per month. It makes us difficult to buy a cup of tea worth Rs 10”. This made me realized how LinkedIn community is privileged who can afford Rs 10 to Rs 250 for a cup of tea. But, there is a huge chunk of people (bottom of pyramid) who can’t afford Rs 10 for a cup of tea. The tea vendor in question was more INCLUSIVE. His objective was not mere the SHRINKFLATION. What I realised was that when I discuss business strategy with my colleagues, I will keep needs of small customers and their affordability in mind while deciding product packaging and SKUs. Do you have any perspective on this? Please share your comments. #shrinkflation #inflation #customerneeds #productpackaging #diversity #inclusiveeconomy #customercentricity #bottomofpyramid

📊 India’s State-wise Milk Production Snapshot (2023–24) India continues to be the world’s largest milk producer, recording a total output of 239.3 thousand tonnes in 2023–24. A major share of this comes from a few leading states, with North India dominating the charts. 🏆 Top 10 Milk-Producing States (in thousand tonnes): 1️⃣ Uttar Pradesh – 38.8K 2️⃣ Rajasthan – 34.7K 3️⃣ Madhya Pradesh – 21.3K 4️⃣ Gujarat – 18.3K 5️⃣ Maharashtra – 16.0K 6️⃣ Andhra Pradesh – 14.0K 7️⃣ Punjab – 14.0K 8️⃣ Karnataka – 13.5K 9️⃣ Bihar – 12.9K 🔟 Haryana – 12.2K 🚜 With rising demand for value-added dairy products and strengthening cold-chain infrastructure, these states continue to drive India’s dairy growth story. #DairyIndustry #MilkProduction #FMCG #Agriculture #IndiaDairy #FoodIndustry #SupplyChain #RuralEconomy