Ten years ago, Marico Limited was essentially a coconut oil company. Today, it owns stakes in a plant-based protein brand, a gourmet popcorn label, a functional wellness startup, and a men's grooming company. This transformation didn't happen through organic building—it came through a string of calculated acquisitions. Marico isn't alone. Hindustan Unilever Limited has poured nearly ₹3,500 crore into bolt-on acquisitions like Minimalist and OZiva, while committing another ₹2,000 crore to premium manufacturing capacity. The logic is brutally simple: build if you can, but if you can't, buy.
Acquiring one provides immediate scale, proven unit economics, and established brand equity. In the race to capture premium beauty, wellness, nutrition, and healthy foods, legacy FMCG companies chose speed over certainty.
Marico has been the most aggressive player in this game, pursuing what it calls the "chessboard strategy." Between 2017 and 2026, the company stitched together a portfolio of six digital-first brands: Beardo (men's grooming, 2017), Just Herbs (Ayurvedic beauty, 2021), True Elements (health foods, 2022), Plix (plant-based nutrition, 2023), 4700BC (premium snacking, January 2026), and Cosmix (functional wellness, February 2026). This wasn't random deal-making. In FY20, commodity-linked categories (primarily coconut oil and edible oils) made up 73% of Marico's portfolio. The digital acquisitions represent a deliberate shift to reduce exposure to volatile commodities and tap into faster-growing premium consumption segments.
The results speak for themselves. Marico's acquired brands generated ₹1,552 crore in FY26 revenue, representing more than 11% of the company's total revenue of ₹13,611 crore. Premium and digital brands now contribute 37% of revenue, up from 27% in FY20, with a target to reach 50% by FY30. The digital portfolio grew from ₹400 crore annual run rate in Q3FY24 to ₹1,100 crore by FY26 end—nearly tripling in two years. Marico now targets this portfolio to reach 2.5x of FY24 base by FY27 and 5x by FY30.
HUL has played a different game. Rather than assembling a broad portfolio of smaller brands, the company has made "fewer, bigger, better" bets—focusing on bolt-on deals where it can leverage its strengths in science, distribution, and market development. The strategy centers on two major investments: Minimalist (90.5% stake for ₹2,955 crore in January 2025) and OZiva (full acquisition for ₹824 crore in February 2026, after initially buying 51% in 2022).
Minimalist has been a standout performer. The premium actives-led beauty brand reached an annual revenue run rate of approximately ₹850 crore within months of acquisition, with HUL's MD & CEO calling it "one of the company's strongest performers". OZiva scaled to about ₹480 crore in 2025, delivering around 130% CAGR over two years.
This reflects HUL's larger revenue base and its strategy of making targeted bets rather than building a broad digital portfolio.
Not all digital-first brands are created equal. Beardo, Minimalist, and Plix have achieved profitability, while OZiva has sharply reduced losses. Brands like True Elements, Cosmix, Yoga Bar, and 4700BC continue to report losses. The divergence comes down to category economics and execution. Men's grooming (Beardo), premium skincare (Minimalist), and plant-based nutrition (Plix) offer higher gross margins (60-80%) and clearer differentiation. Health foods and premium snacking face intense competition, higher customer acquisition costs, and price pressure.
Beardo has achieved double-digit EBITDA margins under Marico's ownership, reporting ₹299 crore revenue and ₹22 crore profit in FY26. Plix almost doubled revenue to ₹864 crore in FY26, with profit surging more than fivefold to ₹25.9 crore. Marico CEO Saugata Gupta has been explicit about the company's philosophy: "We would prefer profitable growth over cash-burning expansion". The company targets double-digit EBITDA margins for its digital portfolio by FY27 end, expanding to teens by FY30.
The real value proposition for acquired brands lies in distribution leverage. Digital-first brands like Mother Sparsh, Beardo, and Minimalist primarily operated through D2C channels pre-acquisition, with minimal presence in general trade (kirana stores) and limited modern trade reach. Parent companies provide immediate access to millions of retail outlets. ITC's distribution network spans 6,000+ distributors and 2 million+ retail outlets, enabling Mother Sparsh to target 30-40% profitable growth through expansion across general trade, modern retail, and underserved markets.
This distribution access is something these brands could never achieve independently. Building comparable distribution infrastructure would take years and hundreds of crores in capital investment. For Mother Sparsh, slipping into losses in FY26 despite strong revenue growth, ITC's distribution network represents the path to profitability. Founders across Marico, HUL, and ITC portfolios are actively planning to leverage parent company distribution strength to accelerate the next phase of growth, while maintaining brand authenticity through continued founder involvement in marketing and community engagement.
The build vs. buy decision came down to three factors: speed, expertise, and talent. Building a digital-first brand from scratch requires 3-5 years to achieve meaningful scale, 5-7 years to establish brand recognition, and significant investment with uncertain outcomes. Acquisitions provide immediate presence, instant revenue scale, and proven business models. Legacy FMCG companies also lacked deep expertise in emerging categories like plant-based nutrition, premium actives-led beauty, and men's grooming. Digital-first brands brought category knowledge, digital capabilities, and founder talent that corporate structures struggled to replicate organically.
The competitive advantages flow both ways. Parent companies provide distribution leverage, manufacturing scale, financial strength, and brand-building expertise. Acquired brands bring digital DNA, entrepreneurial agility, category expertise, and community connection. It's a symbiotic relationship that has reshaped the competitive landscape of the FMCG industry.
The aggressive acquisition activity is decelerating as most large consumer companies have plugged key gaps in their portfolios. Marico's "chessboard strategy" is largely complete, with the company now looking only at tuck-in acquisitions to address remaining portfolio gaps. HUL has explicitly described its strategy as "fewer, bigger, better"—focusing on bolt-on deals rather than transformational acquisitions. The industry is moving from an acquisition phase to a consolidation phase, with greater focus on integration, profitability, and realizing synergies from existing acquisitions.
This strategic evolution reflects portfolio completeness, integration focus, financial discipline, and market maturation. Both Marico and HUL have established their presence in high-growth categories. The focus now shifts to operational optimization, improving profitability of acquired brands, and selective tuck-in acquisitions for specific gaps rather than category-defining transformational deals.
The digital-first brand acquisition wave has fundamentally transformed India's FMCG landscape. Marico has pivoted from a coconut oil company to a diversified consumer player with digital brands contributing 37% of revenue. HUL has established beachheads in premium beauty and health & wellness. The next phase will be about execution—integrating acquired brands, realizing distribution synergies, and achieving profitability targets.
For investors, the key metrics to watch will be the profitability trajectory of loss-making brands (True Elements, 4700BC, Cosmix), the revenue contribution ramp-up of HUL's Minimalist and OZiva, and the overall margin expansion of digital portfolios as they scale. The companies that successfully balance entrepreneurial agility with corporate scale will emerge as winners in this new era of FMCG competition. The chessboard has been set. The game now is about playing the pieces well.
