India's Dabur beats profit estimates on steady domestic demand (updated)

Dabur India

07/05/2026 12:25

Middle East war raises costs for consumer goods makers

Dabur to shrink pack sizes in key price bands

Middle East sales lag as expatriates leave, Dabur says

Rewrites with comments from earnings call

May 7 (Reuters) - India's Dabur DABU.NS signaled a second round of price hikes after implementing a 4% increase across parts of its portfolio, as war in the Middle East drives up manufacturing and transportation costs.

A surge in energy prices caused by the war is rippling through global supply chains for common consumer goods, making materials like chemicals and plastics more expensive.

"We want to increase the margins from last year to the current year and mitigate all the inflation through price increases," Dabur said in a call with analysts after reporting results on Thursday.

Peers including Dove soapmaker Hindustan Unilever HLL.NS and cooking oil manufacturer AWL Agri Business AWLA.NS are also the tightening costs and raising prices to account for rising raw material costs.

Dabur is also shrinking the size of products priced at 10-20 rupees — a key price band for budget-conscious consumers — to manage inflation, after increasing pack sizes when India cut consumption taxes last year.

    Along with the raw material inflation due to the regional conflict, the honey-to-toothpaste maker also faces sales pressure as the Middle East contributes 30%-35% of its international business.

     Middle East and North Africa revenue climbed 1%, while most other regions posted double-digit growth. Dabur attributed the disparity partly to an exodus of expatriates from the Gulf, which in recent years has become a focus area for Indian consumer goods makers.

    Separately, Dabur beat quarterly profit estimates, helped by steady demand after consumption tax cuts in India.

    Consolidated profit jumped 15% to 3.69 billion rupees ($39.15 million), while revenue rose 7% to 30.38 billion rupees.

($1 = 94.2500 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Ronojoy Mazumdar)

 ((UrviManoj.Dugar@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9558725583;))