Ferrero India grows 19%, eyes top 10 global spot

Ferrero is no longer treating India as just another growth market. The Italian confectionery major sees the country becoming one of its top ten global markets, with momentum already visible in the numbers: revenue of Rs 2,585.5 crore for the year ended March 31, 2025, and sales growth of over 19%.

The company is now a strategic priority, Ferrero India Subcontinent Marketing Head Zoher Kapuswala told PTI. But the ambition is deliberately gradual. “India is a strategic market. We are one of the fastest-growing markets across the globe, and the future is that it has to be among the top 10 markets,” he said. The company says it wants long-term sustainable growth rather than expansion that erodes profitability.

Premium desire is travelling beyond the metro

Ferrero’s next wave is coming from smaller cities. The company is widening reach through retail distribution, modern trade, e-commerce and quick-commerce, betting that aspiration is no longer limited to India’s largest urban centres.

Kapuswala’s explanation is a useful lens for brand managers: consumers across city tiers are exposed to the same content, so their aspirations are converging. A shopper in a tier-2 or tier-3 town increasingly wants to express themselves with the same premium products as someone in a metro.

One portfolio, many occasions

Instead of pushing a single premium message, Ferrero is slicing the category by occasion. That is the lesson hidden inside its portfolio strategy.

• Ferrero Rocher remains the premium gifting anchor.
• Ferrero Rocher Moments makes gifting more accessible.
• Raffaello is positioned for romantic occasions.
• Kinder speaks to children and family consumption.
• Nutella is being localised around chapati, paratha and bread.
• Tic Tac is aimed at younger consumers.

Ferrero has also entered the chocolate bar segment with Ferrero Rocher bars, moving beyond traditional gifting. That puts it in an Indian chocolate bar market estimated at around Rs 20,000 crore, where premium indulgence can become an everyday or sharing occasion rather than only a festive one.

What to do with this

The strategic move is occasion-based positioning: assign each product one clear moment of use, so the portfolio stretches across emotional jobs instead of competing with itself. Ferrero’s focus is to grow faster than its categories and keep gaining share.

Localisation matters too. Rather than forcing a global consumption ritual, Ferrero is fitting Nutella into Indian eating habits. And the country’s festive calendar, led by Diwali, gives the brand a culturally relevant reason to connect gifting to local traditions.

For Indian and global marketers, the signal is clear. Premium growth is no longer a metro-only story. But winning it requires patience, sharp occasion mapping and distribution that protects margin.

Source: Storyboard18