To start with, can you provide us with an overview of Ghodawat Consumer Ltd (with respect to business, manufacturing facilities, growth in the past few years, etc)

Ghodawat Consumer Ltd (GCL), the FMCG arm of Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG), is one of India’s fastest-growing FMCG companies. Over the past decade, GCL has evolved from a regional entity into a national, multi-category consumer brand with a strong presence across the FMCG sector. 

The company operates as an integrated FMCG business with a multi-brand, multi-category portfolio that includes staples such as STAR atta, STAR besan, STAR rawa, STAR maida, STAR rice, STAR edible oils, and STAR salt, as well as impulse products like Coolberg – India’s No.1 Non-alcoholic Beer, To Be Honest (TBH) – 100 per cent real fruit and vegetable crunchies. GCL’s major manufacturing strengths include large-scale production units in Maharashtra equipped with automated lines. The company has achieved backward integration in key categories such as rice milling, oil extraction and refining, and the manufacturing of atta, rawa, maida, and besan. 

It also operates high-speed beverage bottling plants and has an in-house New Product Development (NPD) team, along with a NABL-accredited Central Lab, to ensure consistent product quality and innovation. This integrated approach and robust manufacturing infrastructure have underpinned GCL’s significant growth in recent years.

Ghodawat Consumer Ltd (GCL) ensures consistency, traceability, and compliance across its diverse FMCG product lines while scaling up production by employing a comprehensive, technology-driven quality management framework. The company implements centralised quality protocols that are uniformly applied across every plant and category, with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) mapped to FSSAI, HACCP, ISO 22000, and GMP norms. Unified hygiene, sanitation, and cross-contamination controls are enforced, and dedicated quality teams are assigned to each category. To further meet consumer expectations, GCL has adopted the 3D Quality process, which ensures food safety, original design adherence, and consumer-delivered quality in terms of taste, odor, appearance, freshness, and packaging, thereby maintaining consistent standards even as production scales.

Vertical integration is another key strength, with in-house rice mills, oil refineries, packaging units, and beverage bottling plants allowing direct monitoring of raw material quality from sourcing to final packaging, reducing dependency on external suppliers and enhancing consistency. GCL employs advanced traceability mechanisms, including batch-wise digital tracking and centralised ERP systems (SAP/PRM), which link procurement, production, and distribution for real-time visibility and quick root-cause analysis.

Each facility features a fully equipped, centrally supervised laboratory for physical, chemical, biological, and sensory testing, as well as packaging and barrier testing and FEMA verification. Centralised NPD ensures product formulations remain uniform across all plants and batches. Automation and technology-driven controls, such as automated filling, packaging, blending, and bottling lines, and real-time analytics, further support high-volume, repeatable quality by minimising human error.

GCL maintains compliance through regular third-party audits and certifications, including FSSAI, BRC-GS, FSSC 22000, US FDA, Kosher, Halal, and environmental and safety certifications, along with periodic regulatory inspections. Finally, the company promotes continuous improvement through FOSTAC training, Kaizen and 5S projects, cross-functional internal audits aligned with GFSI standards, and real-time feedback systems between plants and NPD. This integrated approach builds a culture of quality and enables GCL to maintain the highest standards across all product lines and facilities.

GCL has set ambitious targets for water neutrality, carbon neutrality, and zero liquid discharge by 2030, and several transformative initiatives are actively reshaping our daily operations to achieve these goals. On the water conservation front, GCL is committed to becoming water neutral by 2030 and has already achieved 11 per cent rainwater harvesting, with a target to reach 16 per cent by the end of FY 2025-26. Specifically, our rainwater harvesting project at the beverage plant is estimated to capture 23,413.30 KL of rainwater annually. In addition to rainwater harvesting, we are focused on achieving zero liquid discharge through the reuse and recycling of wastewater. This involves conducting water audits to identify wastage and optimisation opportunities, as well as upgrading existing Effluent Treatment Plants to ensure all wastewater is treated and reused within our facilities.

On the carbon neutrality front, GCL has achieved a 37 per cent share of renewable energy in its operations and aims to increase this to 41 per cent by the end of 2025 through the expansion of solar panel installations. Planned additions include 100 KWP at the Head Office, 300 KWP at the rice facility, and 250 KWP at the beverage plant, with a total of 950 KWP of solar panels expected to be installed over the next two financial years (2025-2026 and 2026-2027). These sustainability projects are not only reducing our environmental footprint but are also fostering a culture of resource optimisation, efficiency, and environmental responsibility at every level of our operations.

How is technology (such as automation, digitalisation, AI, etc.) helping in enhancing product safety, reducing errors, and supporting data-driven decision-making within your quality function?

Technology is playing a pivotal role in enhancing product safety, reducing errors, and enabling data-driven decision-making within our quality function at GCL. Automation is extensively deployed across our manufacturing and quality checkpoints to ensure precision and minimise human error. Automated filling, blending, and packaging lines deliver consistent product measurements, while vision-based inspection systems quickly detect any packaging defects or errors. Additionally, automated Clean-in-Place (CIP) systems in our beverage unit maintain the highest standards of hygiene, significantly reducing manual dependency and error rates.

Digitisation further strengthens our quality management by enabling real-time monitoring and centralised control. SAP-linked quality modules track raw material quality, maintain comprehensive batch records, and log test results, while digital SOPs and audit trails ensure compliance and minimise documentation gaps. Real-time production monitoring provides immediate alerts if there are deviations from established quality parameters, making quality traceable, auditable, and transparent from end to end.

Integrated data flow across procurement, production, quality, and distribution empowers our leadership with actionable insights. Real-time quality metrics allow for swift corrective actions, trend analysis supports continuous improvement, and central dashboards facilitate remote collaboration and performance reviews. This seamless integration of data transforms information into a strategic asset, enabling us to scale operations safely, efficiently, and with a strong focus on quality.

Across the Indian FMCG sector, some of the biggest challenges in adopting sustainable practices include building a sustainable supply chain, effective water management, comprehensive waste reduction, and responsible packaging. Sustainable supply chain management remains a key hurdle, as companies must balance efficiency, transparency, and environmental responsibility. At GCL, we have made significant strides in this area, and water management remains another critical challenge that requires continuous investment in conservation, recycling, and efficient usage techniques. Waste reduction and achieving zero waste to landfill are equally pressing, given the scale of operations in FMCG. GCL has made notable progress here, having achieved a 58 per cent waste diversion rate, and we continue to implement strategic plans focused on reducing, reusing, and scientifically disposing of waste.

Responsible packaging is also at the forefront, particularly with evolving Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance requirements and new mandates regarding the use of recycled raw materials in plastic packaging. Addressing these challenges requires close collaboration between procurement and R&D teams. At GCL, we are actively working together to develop and implement sustainable packaging solutions that align with both regulatory requirements and our broader sustainability goals.

To stay compliant amid increasing regulatory focus on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), food safety, and carbon reporting, FMCG companies must adopt a proactive and adaptive approach. At GCL, we file EPR for every financial year based on targets provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In FY 2024–25, we managed 1,052 MT of plastic waste, including HDPE, PET, PP, LDPE, and MLP, which helped divert 852,120 cubic feet of waste from landfills, prevented 2,630,000 kg of air pollution, and conserved 19.1 million litres of water, 6.07 million kWh of energy, and 2.72 million litres of oil.

However, recent amendments in EPR regulations, such as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notification dated 16th February 2022, have introduced additional challenges, particularly regarding the non-availability of recycled packaging materials with the desired quality.