Dabur India’s consolidated net profit grew 19.5 per cent to ₹481.7 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2020, from ₹403 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal. Consolidated revenue rose 13.7 per cent to ₹2,516 crore. The company said this was the highest quarterly revenue growth recorded in the last couple of years.

The company’s board declared an interim dividend of 175 per cent for 2020-21. “Continuing with our payout policy, the board has declared an interim dividend of ₹1.75 per share, aggregating to a total payout of ₹309.30 crore,” Dabur India Ltd Chairman Amit Burman said in a statement.

The company said that growth in the quarter was led by its FMCG business, which surged by 19.8 per cent with an underlying volume growth of 16.8 per cent during the second quarter of the current fiscal year.

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“While Covid-19 continues to impact people around the world, Dabur India Ltd’s strategic business transformation exercise to develop and implement aggressive growth strategies in the core business areas and successfully address the emerging challenges helped us deliver a healthy topline growth accompanied by an expansion in margin,” said Mohit Malhotra, CEO, Dabur India Ltd.

The company said that its domestic healthcare business reported a strong growth of 49 per cent and the recent launches of consumer-relevant innovations contributed about 5-6 per cent to its revenue. The company’s international business also reported a growth of 5.5 per cent in the second quarter, it added

“As Dabur continued to move forward on its distribution expansion strategy in the hinterland, rural demand grew ahead of urban. Favourable monsoon and enhanced stimulus announced by the government as part of its overall thrust on boosting rural economy is expected to further drive rural demand in the coming months,” Malhotra added.

While the company’s Health Supplements business grew by 70.8 per cent in the second quarter, the Ayurvedic OTC range increased by over 56 per cent and the Ayurvedic Ethicals business closed Q2 with an over 26 per cent growth. Dabur’s Oral Care Sales grew by over 24 per cent and its shampoo business rose 18 per cent.

“The Home & Personal care business also reported a recovery, growing by high single digits, while the domestic foods Business saw a strong revival with in-home consumption returning to near normal levels. However, this category was impacted by the continued closure of hotels, restaurants and institutional businesses,” Malhotra added. The share of e-commerce business to domestic sales increased to six per cent in the quarter under review, compared to 2.1 per cent a year ago.