BANGLADESH – Britannia and other Indian FMCG company are starting to slowly returning to operations just one week after downsizing and requiring employees to stay at home.
Bangladesh, which recently faced violent clashes leading to a regime change there is starting to come back to normalcy.
An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led government, and its Chief Adviser, 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, announced the portfolios of his 16-member council of advisors last week.
Marico, which has the biggest exposure in Bangladesh, has informed the bourses that its manufacturing operations in the country resumed at normal scale on August 11.
“Operating conditions in the market have been gradually improving and a large majority of our retail sales force and distributors have been functioning since last week,” the Mariwala-promoted FMCG maker said.
In Bangladesh, Marico operates in personal care, baby care, edible oil and food segments, and has contributed 44 percent to the international sales of the company. It has two factories in Gazipur, Dhaka, and five depots.
“We continue to prioritise the safety of our employees, factory workers, distributors and other stakeholders of our business. We firmly believe that the medium-term prospects of Marico’s business in Bangladesh remain intact,” it said.
Other leading QSR chain Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL), a master franchisee of American pizza restaurant chain Domino’s, which also operates around 30 stores in Bangladesh, is also on track.
FMCG majors including Coca-Cola, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle and PepsiCo are also among the companies that took immediate steps including sending out advisories to their employees in Bangladesh to stay indoors and not report to work at office.
However, they have not come out to say if they have resumed full operations or the next step they will be taking with the businesses in the country.
Dabur India, the brand owner of Dabur Glucose,Real Activ 100% Juices, Real Milkshakes Digestives said its factory and stockists are operational now after being shut for about a week during the turmoil.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and we will make all efforts to resume normalcy in operations,” said Dabur CEO Mohit Malhotra.
He further said Bangladesh accounts for under 1 per cent of the consolidated revenue and under 0.5 per cent of profits.
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