India's annual retail inflation eased to 5.66% in March, government data showed.
The company also pointed to early signs of a demand recovery in rural India. "The rural sector has most likely bottomed-out as the declining trend reversed in this quarter," it said.
Marico's consolidated net profit stood at 3.02 billion rupees ($37 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with 2.51 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had expected the company to report a profit of 2.74 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Meanwhile, the food business reported an 18% increase in sales, led by the strong demand for Saffola-branded oats and other food items. Revenue from operations rose 3.7% to 22.4 billion rupees. Rival Adani Wilmar's fourth-quarter earnings more than halved, while another peer Dabur India Ltd reported a 2% increase. ($1 = 81.6800 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
