• Edible oil duties: Duty cuts of 5% on palm and soya oil and 10% on sunflower oil will be fully passed on to edible oil consumers, while providing margin benefits with a lagged pass-through in food categories like biscuits.
• Volume growth guidance: Edible oil volume growth is maintained at 2% to 4% (3% to 5% overall), with lower prices and festive demand expected to help total national imports exceed last year's 16 million tonnes.
• Segment demand trends: Urban demand remains strong, driven by 20%+ growth in biscuits, strong performance in soya protein, and HPC tracking toward 15% growth for the year following a 12% rise last quarter.
• Rural demand outlook: Rural consumption faces uncertainty due to monsoon conditions, though management notes that commodity prices trading above MSP and government schemes could help cushion farm incomes.