Nestle, HUL announces price hike: Maggi, tea to get costlier

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Nestle announced a
price hike for products such as tea, coffee, milk and noodles on March 14,
reported CNBC TV-18 quoting sources.

Nestle India is raising the prices of Maggi noodles by 9%
to 16%. Apart from Maggi, Nestle India has also announced a price hike for its
milk and coffee powder.

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With the recent changes, the Maggi Masala noodles 70gm
price will cost Rs 14 from earlier Rs 12. The price of Maggi Masala Noodles 140
gm is raised by Rs 3% or 12.5%, while the 560 gm pack is will become expensive
by 9.4% and will be retailed at Rs 105 from earlier Rs 96.

The price of Nestle A+milk 1 litre pack will be costlier
by 4% than its current price, which makes it to Rs 78 from Rs 75. The price of
Nescafe classic coffee powder is increased by 3-7%, resulting in the price of
Nescafe classic 25 gm pack up by 2.5% to Rs 80 from Rs 78. Nescafe classic 50
gm pack is raised to Rs 150 from Rs 145, a 3.4% hike.

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Furthermore, another FMCG major HUL too has taken price
hikes in its tea and coffee powder range. HUL has raised prices of Bru coffee
powder by 3-7% across packs. Bru gold coffee jars will become costlier 3-4%,
instant coffee pouches costlier by 3-6.66% across packs.

Bru instant coffee pouches are now costlier by 3% to
6.66% across packs. Taj Mahal tea prices are raised by 3.7% to 5.8% across
variants, according to the CNBC TV-18 report.

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Brooke Bond 3 roses variants are now costlier by 1.5% to
14% across packs and variants. While announcing the price hikes in its
products, Hindustan Unilever said it was facing inflationary pressures on its
products and was able to provide the right price-value equation to consumers.

These price hikes by the leading fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) companies came ahead of the release of the retail inflation data
for February 2022, released today.

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According to the data released by National Statistical
Office (NSO), India’s retail inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index
(CPI) jumped to a seven-month high of 6.01% in February 2022.

The past few months have seen drastic price hikes across
segments and categories due to a wide range of reasons including cost of raw
materials, transportations costs, etc. The overall household budget has
increased in recent months because of the soaring inflation.