Can Reliance Industries disrupt India’s biscuit market like cola? Britannia CEO weighs in; stocks in focus

The entry of Reliance Industries (RIL) into India’s biscuits market is set to intensify competition in the country’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, putting established players such as Britannia Industries, ITC and Parle Products under the spotlight.

However, Britannia’s CEO and MD, Rakshit Hargave, believes Reliance may find it difficult to replicate the price disruption it created in the cola market, given the different pricing dynamics of the biscuits segment.

Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL), the FMCG arm of RIL, has expanded its Independence biscuit portfolio with 28 new stock-keeping units (SKUs) across nine variants.

The products were launched in Tamil Nadu on November 2, 2026, with the company planning to gradually expand its presence in other markets.

RCPL said Tamil Nadu is a key market for its biscuit business. It also expects increased production capacity to support its expansion plans and widen consumer reach.

The expanded portfolio includes Power Up, a biscuit that combines milk, glucose and protein, offering a differentiated product in the everyday biscuit category.

Here is what the Britannia CEO said

“As far as Reliance is concerned, we have to study what they have done. So they have come with a range of products, basically very similar to all the classical products in the market. And they are starting with Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is a large state for biscuits also for us, as you would know,” said Britannia Industries CEO and MD Rakshit Hargave in an analyst call on Saturday.

However, Hargave pointed out that the biscuits market operates differently from the cola segment, where aggressive pricing and discounts helped Reliance create disruption.

“The disruption of price, which happened in the cola market. As you would know, in the biscuit market, a large part of the market operates at ₹5 and ₹10. So the ability to disrupt those 2 price points in the biscuit market is much more difficult than you can do in a cola market by discounting by ₹5 or ₹10,” Hargave added.

Describing Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance as a “very respectable competition”, Hargave said Britannia would closely watch how the competitive landscape evolves.

He also expressed confidence in Britannia’s competitive strengths, saying the company has strong market moats and well-defined plans to sustain its growth.

“We also have very, very strong moats and very strong plans to go ahead, and we will see what and how it transpires,” Hargave added.

Reliance had entered into the fast-growing beverage market in August 2022 after acquiring Campa Cola, which delivered ₹2,900 crore in Q1 sales, contributing almost one-third of the topline of RCPL. It almost delivered “50% of FY26 sales in Q1,” said RIL in its earnings presentation.

The company plans to launch Campa in the aluminium can versions by the end of this month.

It has already launched Campa cans in the Australian market, through Goodness Group, a company which was acquired by the Reliance group in February this year.

Reliance Retail Q2 FY27 earnings

Reliance Retail reported a 24.5% decline in profit after tax (PAT) to ₹2,619 crore in the September quarter (Q2 FY27).

Its PAT was ₹3,469 crore in the year-ago period.

Its gross revenue rose 6.43% to ₹91,716 crore from ₹86,169 crore a year earlier as the festive period shifted to the December quarter.

Revenue from operations of Reliance Retail Venture Ltd (RRVL) increased 5.78% to ₹80,220 crore in the September quarter of FY27. It was ₹75,836 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

“The business performance was impacted by the shift in the festive calendar to Q3,” said Reliance Industries in its earnings statement.

Its EBITDA from operations slipped 11.1% to ₹5,886 crore in the September quarter of FY27 against ₹6,624 crore a year ago.

RRVL’S EBITDA before one-time impairment charge fell 8.6% to ₹6,228 crore.

Other details to know

The successful listing of Jio could set the stage for Reliance’s next major value-unlocking exercise, with the proposed Reliance Retail IPO likely to be closely watched by investors.