Introduction

Domestic consumption has been the driver of Indian economic growth for several years. So, when structural issues including insufficient growth in employment and slower redistribution of wealth to a wider mass led to the consumer sector catching cold, it was natural to see the economy sneezing with a severe slowdown. The pandemic-induced lockdown also had a devastating effect on the makers and sellers of consumer products and services.

But the resilience of India’s domestic consumption story is once again on display. Despite the shock of the lockdown, green-shoots are clearly visible.

Rural demand, which is now the bellwether for the industry, was less affected, and shopping trends from the festive season indicated even urban demand is bouncing back. Broadly, the slowdown that was visible even before the pandemic hit the economy, seems to have bottomed out.

Investment activity has been only mildly muted. Private equity and venture capital firms have invested over $9 billion across 250 consumer companies in 2020 to date, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of Mosaic Digital. Even though a bulk of this money went to Reliance Retail, the total investment was almost the same as the previous year even outside the retail giant. However, the number of consumer firms attracting capital did decline.

The consumer discretionary space sucked much of the money flowing into consumer companies, and while several staples companies found backers they were mostly small-ticket deals.

A large part of the overall money in the consumer sector went into consumer technology firms even as food and beverage; fashion, personal care and restaurant chains also attracted the attention of PE-VC fund managers.

But entrepreneurs face a hard truth about brand fatigue and fragmentation besides down-trading. In a nearly $3 trillion economy of 1.3 billion people, one would struggle to name more than a handful of consumer product labels with $1 billion plus in sales outside of automobiles and electronics. Apparel, food, footwear and personal care in particular, despite being large categories, are highly fragmented businesses.

To gauge the emerging opportunities, discuss the challenges and how to overcome them, VCCircle is hosting the ninth edition of Consumer Investment Summit on January 22, 2021 on a virtual platform.


Agenda

9:00 AM onwards
  • 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM

    Registration

  • 9:30 AM – 9:40 AM

    Opening Address

    By Shalil Gupta, CBO, Mosaic Digital

  • 9:40 AM – 10:10 AM

    Panel Discussion 1: Fighting brand fatigue

    Consumer companies face the challenge of scaling up a brand beyond a point. What strategies help firms to hit the inflexion point for creating billion-dollar labels? How can firms replicate a regional success at the national level? Is down-trading a temporary reflex action of consumers and how are brands preparing to tackle it on a long-term basis?

    Speakers:
    Sanjay Singal, COO-Dairy & Beverages, ITC Limited
    Anoop Bector, MD, Mrs. Bector’s Food Specialities Ltd.
    Ravi Saxena, Co-founder and MD, Wonderchef
    Moderator: Ranjani Raghavan, Associate Editor, VCCircle

  • 10:10 AM – 10:20 AM

    QnA Session

  • 10:20 AM – 10:50 AM

    Panel Discussion 2: Recipe for growth

    Food companies across the value chain have attracted private capital. Which segments have cooked more successes? What’s the secret sauce to scale up food labels?

    Speakers:
    Chakradhar Gade
    , Co-founder, Country Delight
    Rohan Mirchandani, Co-founder & CEO, Epigamia
    Moderator: Beena Parmar
    , Special Correspondent, VCCircle

  • 10:50 AM – 11:00 AM

    QnA Session

  • 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM

    Panel Discussion 3: Fashion & beauty in digital age

    Fashion and beauty are two legs of discretionary spending that are dependent on the touch and feel factors. How can lifestyle labels leverage digital space for scaling up? How are companies tackling the limitations of the online playground for fashion as a business?

    The business of looking good is seeing new shades. New brands are displacing legacy labels from dressing tables, salon chains are grappling with new-age competitors and specialised e-tailing platforms are taking a part of the cream. How are the business models intersecting and what is the way forward?

    Speakers:
    Shivani Poddar,
    Co-founder, Faballey
    Vinay Chatlani, MD & CEO, Soch Apparels
    Manish Taneja, Co-founder & CEO, Purplle
    Moderator: Joseph Rai
    , Special Correspondent, VCCircle

  • 11:30 AM – 11:40 AM

    QnA Session

  • 11:40 AM – Onwards

    End of Conference


Speakers 2021

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Vinay Chatlani

MD & CEO, Soch
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Chakradhar Gade

Co-Founder, Country Delight
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Shivani Poddar

Co-founder, FabAlley
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Sanjay Singal

COO-Dairy & Beverages, ITC Limited
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Anoop Bector

MD, Mrs. Bector's Food Specialities Ltd.
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Manish Taneja

Co-founder & CEO, Purplle
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Ravi Saxena

Co-founder and MD, Wonderchef
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Rohan Mirchandani

Co-founder & CEO, Epigamia

Past Sponsors


Want to be part of it?

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