Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting acquires Kerala-based ready-to-cook brand Brahmins

New Delhi: To expand its presence in the fast-growing food market, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Thursday announced the acquisition of Brahmins, a Kerala-based traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand.

Part of Azim Premji-led Wipro Enterprises had forayed into the foods segment six months before with the acquisition of the Nirapara brand -- known for its spices and ready-to-cook food.

With these two acquisitions, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting "is looking at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment"  and consolidating its spices, breakfast and ready-to-cook category, a joint statement said.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition.

The acquisition of Brahmins will be the 14th so far for Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, which crossed the milestone of Rs 10,000 crore in overall sales in FY23, helped by significant growth across its geographies, brands, and categories.

Established in 1987, Brahmins is one of the most preferred brands in its home market Kerala, with ethnic breakfast premix powders, spice mixes, straight powders (spices), wheat products such as - pickles, dessert mixes, and others.

Its premium flagship products are Sambar Powder, and Puttu Podi which enjoy a market leadership position.

The acquisition "will be a mutually beneficial partnership that will accelerate the expansion of the Brahmins' portfolio on one hand and embolden Wipro's foundation into the food business," it said.

Adding Brahmins under the Wipro fold will further bolster its position in blended spices and ethnic breakfast (Puttu-podi, Appams and other Rice products) categories in Kerala and other markets such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the UK, the US and Australia," it said.

"We entered the Food category with our first acquisition of Nirapara and within six months, we are happy to share our latest acquisition of Brahmins. In Kerala, Brahmins is a strong heritage brand leading the spice and ready- to-cook category with a significant consumer recall," said Vineet Agrawal, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and Managing Director, Wipro Enterprises.

Brahmins MD Sreenath Vishnu said: "We are confident that with Wipro's distribution strength, network, and marketing expertise we will significantly expand our geographical presence and scale Brahmins to newer heights." Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, which started in 1945 as a vanaspati brand, with its factory in Amalner, Maharashtra now has a presence in 60 countries.

The company which operates in FMCG and lighting products has 18 factories with more than 10,000 employees and 51 per cent of its revenue comes from international businesses.