Mohit Malhotra, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dabur India, on Wednesday, said that inflation has been going up unabated since the last week of August.

Fast-moving consumer goods major Dabur on Tuesday, November 2, reported a net profit of Rs 505.3 crore for the quarter ended September, up 4.7 percent on a year-on-year basis. The company's revenue increased 12 percent to Rs 2,817.6 crore. Both profit and revenue exceeded Street estimates.

Analysts in a CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated the company's net profit at Rs 490 crore over revenue of Rs 2,670 crore.

Also Read: Dabur Q2 Results: Net profit up 5% at Rs 505 crore, beats Street estimates

“Everything has been going on well post-COVID-19 recovery. We have seen all channels performing well, but towards the end of August we have seen inflation going on unabated and we saw around 9 percent inflation on our business, across all sub-segments of raw materials and packaging material. However, in Q3 also we do not see softening of prices happening and we expect inflation around 10 percent,” Malhotra said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

On price increase, he said, “To mitigate the price inflation, we have taken price increases to an extent of around 3.5-4 percent. If prices do not soften in the next two quarters, we will observe for another quarter; in Q4, if we do not see the bases lapping or even if the bases lap and inflation goes on unabated then we might have to take a second round of price increase.”

Also Read: Dabur hikes prices of hair oil brands by 2-7.5%

According to him, the company is looking at double-digit volume growth for the year. “We are looking at double-digit volume growth for the full year (FY22) in the range of low teens because the second half was higher base, the first half a little lower base, but Q3 and Q4 come on a very high base for us. So there will be an impact, but we do not look at that way as long as we keep increasing our market share,” said Malhotra.

For the entire management interview, watch the video