India's Tata Consumer Products posts strong profit growth on higher demand

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Tata Consumer Products Ltd reported a bigger-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by higher salt prices and pent-up demand for everything from mineral water to Starbucks coffee.

Discretionary spending has been on the rebound as offices reopen, dining out picks up and Indians gear up for the first festive season free of COVID curbs in two years.

The consumer goods company, which sells the popular Tata Salt, Himalayan mineral water and runs a joint venture with Starbucks in India, said profit rose 22.4% to 3.28 billion Indian rupees ($39.7 million) in the quarter.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 2.78 billion rupees, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

"In our other core business of salt, despite significant inflation-led pricing, we have continued to gain market share," Sunil D'Souza, managing director and CEO of Tata Consumer Products, said in a statement.

Total revenue from operations rose 10.9% year-on-year to 33.63 billion rupees.

However, the company's international business was hit by inflationary pressures and foreign exchange-related headwinds.

On Monday, Tata Coffee Ltd, a unit of Tata Consumer Products, said its consolidated net profit surged nearly 42% to 1.42 billion rupees in the quarter.

Tata Consumer Products' shares closed up 0.8% on Thursday to take their gains to 3.7% for the year.

(Reporting by Akansha Victor and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)