Services India Market By industry Case Studies Trade Shows Insights News Company Download Materials

Tata Consumer Products — A Tea and Salt Company That Became a Full-Line Food Company Through Acquisitions

2026.03.26

Article summary

Tata Consumer Products is the Tata Group's food and beverage company (formerly Tata Tea, 1962), with Sunil D'Souza as MD and CEO. It's India's top tea maker (Tata Tea, Tetley), and Tata Salt has strong brand power in table salt. Since 2020 it has acquired companies such as Capital Foods (Ching's Secret) and Organic India, expanding into spices, health food, and instant food. Consolidated revenue for FY2026 (year ended March 2026) was ₹20,290 crore (1 crore = 10 million rupees), up 15.2% year on year. It also runs Tata Starbucks, a 50:50 joint venture with US-based Starbucks, which reached more than 500 stores in 80 cities in FY2026, with its net loss narrowing to ₹49.5 crore. It also serves as a landing point for foreign brands entering India.

This article is based on what we could verify As of September 19, 2026 This page is based on the disclosures and news reports from each company that we were able to confirm as of that date. Amounts in the text follow the notation commonly used in India, with ₹1 crore = 10 million rupees, and yen figures are approximations calculated at a little over 1.7 yen to the rupee. Store counts, funding raised, and results at Indian companies change over short periods, so when making a business decision, please check the latest information in primary sources such as each company's own announcements.

Tata Consumer Products is the company that runs the Tata Group's food and beverage business. It started as tea maker Tata Tea, and acquisitions since 2020 have expanded it into spices, health food, and instant food.

Company profile

Item	Details
Year founded	1962 (formerly Tata Tea)
Headquarters	Mumbai (Maharashtra)
MD & CEO	Sunil D’Souza
Consolidated revenue	₹20,290 crore (FY2026, year ended March 2026; up 15.2% year on year, about ¥353 billion). FY2025 was ₹17,618 crore
Employees	About 5,000
Listing	Listed on the BSE and NSE
Main brands	Tata Tea, Tetley, Tata Salt, Tata Sampann, Tata Soulfull, Organic India, Ching’s Secret
Joint venture	Tata Starbucks (50:50 with US-based Starbucks)

Tea and salt are the foundation

It leads the Indian market in tea (Tata Tea, Tetley), and Tata Salt has strong brand power in table salt. Both are products households never run out of, buying them multiple times a year. Having these two lets the company operate a system for delivering products to retailers nationwide.

But both tea and salt carry low unit prices and thin margins. So since 2020, it has acquired Capital Foods (Ching's Secret, Chinese-style seasonings and instant noodles), Organic India (herbs and health food), and others, adding higher-priced items. Tata Sampann covers spices and pulses, and Tata Soulfull covers millet-based cereal.

Consolidated revenue for FY2026 (year ended March 2026) was ₹20,290 crore, up 15.2% from ₹17,618 crore in FY2025.

It's also a landing point for outside brands

The company runs Tata Starbucks, a 50:50 joint venture with Starbucks of the US. Store operations and openings are handled by the Tata side, while the brand and products come from Starbucks; in FY2026 the store count passed 500 across 80 cities. The joint venture's net loss has narrowed to ₹49.5 crore.

In other words, Tata Consumer is both a company that sells its own brands and a landing point for foreign brands in India. Since it can source coffee beans from its own plantations, it also has a structure that can run everything from raw material to storefront in-house.

Points for Japanese companies

When looking for a partner in India, Tata Consumer is a candidate because it "already has distribution." The network it built through tea and salt reaches nationwide, and it has a track record of putting new items onto it through multiple acquisitions.

That said, the company already holds many brands, and anything new joining it is expected to carry appropriate scale. In the case of Tata Starbucks, it took more than 13 years to go from the first store to 500, and profitability still hasn't arrived. A plan premised on a short payback period is unlikely to be accepted.