Wipro eyes buyouts in consumer care biz

Armed with a cash chest of over `2,260 crore, Azim Premji-led Wipro’s consumer business unit is looking for buyouts to accelerate growth and expand presence, especially in the domestic market.

Armed with a cash chest of over `2,260 crore, Azim Premji-led Wipro’s consumer business unit is looking for buyouts to accelerate growth and expand presence, especially in the domestic market.

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With more than half of its revenue coming from abroad, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting posted `5,000 crore, or $837 million, revenue last financial year and is poised to cross $1-billion mark in 2014-15.

While the flagship IT business is the key growth driver for Wipro, which was founded originally as a vegetable oil company in 1945, the company sees opportunities in the unlisted consumer care business too.

“As for acquisitions we don’t have any constraints. We will look at opportunities that fits into our strategy,” Vineet Agrawal, CEO, Consumer Care Business, Wipro, told HT. The company grew rapidly through eight acquisitions since 2003, mostly in overseas markets.

“We have been growing faster than the industry at 10% and are expanding categories,” he said. The company is now looking to expand presence in personal care segment, where its growth in the domestic market is primarily driven by mass-market soap brands Santoor and Chandrika.

Agrawal said the company is expanding its LED and CFL light business, besides ramping its fatty acid plant in Haridwar by investing `150 crore a year, as part of a backward integration plan for its soap and detergent business.

In its nutrition business, Wipro got an interim injunction last week from a Hyderabad civil court against Heinz India restraining it from manufacturing its product, which Wipro claims is similar to its Glucovita Bolts energy tablets.