Indian FMCG companies doing business in Bangladesh, which was affected by widespread unrest for a week, say that now their business is slowly returning to normal. Many Indian companies making daily consumer goods (FMCG) also have business in Bangladesh. These include Marico, Dabur, Emami, Pidilite Industries, Britannia and Godrej Consumer Products. Apart from these, Jubilant Foodworks Limited (JFL), the company that operates the Domino’s Pizza chain, also operates about 30 stores in Bangladesh.
Business activities had come to a standstill
Bangladesh was hit by internal unrest and violence in the first week of August. All business activities had come to a standstill after the anti-government protests took a violent form. However, the situation is slowly coming under control since the formation of the interim government last week. Marico has said that its manufacturing units located in Bangladesh started functioning normally on August 11. The company said, “The operating conditions in the market are gradually improving and a large part of our retail workforce and distributors have started working.” Marico has a big business Bangladesh accounts for up to 44 percent of Marico’s international business. It has two factories and five depots there. It had formed a subsidiary Marico Bangladesh in 1999, which is a listed entity on the stock exchanges there. Dabur India also said that its factory and stock holding traders have now started operating normally after being shut for a week. Dabur Chief Executive Officer Mohit Malhotra said, “We are closely monitoring the situation and we will make all efforts to restore normalcy in operations.” 560 people died He said that Bangladesh contributes less than one percent to Dabur’s consolidated revenue and less than 0.5 percent to profits. Another domestic company Emami also has a presence in Bangladesh but it is small in size. Bangladesh contributes about four percent to Emami’s total consolidated revenue. More than 230 people have been killed in Bangladesh in incidents of violence that erupted across the country after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5. This has increased the death toll to 560 since the protests began in mid-July.
