Another megatrend which Marico followed was to innovate in the space of guilt free snacking. We recently launched Saffola Oodles – No-maida Noodles which brings the blend of convenience and healthy ingredients like oats, and also delivers indulgence through tasty snacking solutions in the form of fun filled ring shaped noodles.

Hygiene-based products like the Veggie Clean was launched to support consumers in ensuring good health of their loved ones through safety and cleanliness of fruits and vegetables that are consumed daily. Others innovative hygiene-related products introduced in FY21 were sanitizers, disinfectant sprays, foot sanitizers and laundry sanitizers to address the pandemic demands.

Campaigns: Parachute Advansed Gold ‘Thank you Nurses’

On the occasion of Onam, Parachute Advansed Gold launched a heartening digital campaign that honoured the unparalleled spirit of nurses across the country. It is due to their commitment that countless COVID-19 patients had returned home to their families for Onam. The campaign called upon every individual to proudly dedicate their Pookalam (a popular floor decoration with flowers) to these heroes and their valiant efforts by designing it with a ‘Thank you’ motif.

Member health and safety

• Worked closely with the local authorities to pioneer safety standards in our offices and distributor depots on social distancing, safe working gear, thermal screening, sanitisation and member training on safety modules
• Enabled expert-led awareness sessions, on-call support through tie-up with certified doctors and COVID-19 Helpdesk to assist members on process related queries.

COVID-19 compliance and support at depots and warehouses

Periodic assessments in the form of virtual audits were conducted to ensure 100% compliance with the evolving COVID -19 regulatory norms at all the depots and warehouses. The key objective of these audits was to train the depots on COVID -19 Protocol and assess any gaps or compliance requirements related to products, processes and facilities. A mediclaim policy was also issued for all depot staff members in case of anyone requiring hospitalisation support. Vaccination drives have commenced from May 21 for all warehouse related staff members.

Mitigation of pandemic-induced disruption in logistics

Pandemic threw a wide range of challenges such as restricted movement/hauling of shipments due to announcement of lockdown, premium on freight and ability to bounce back to pre-COVID levels in terms of number of shipments. Our interventions were focused on direct billing from factories to our distributors and modern trade accounts, which resulted in retention of business. A bill to ship model was established in which depots supplied to stockists directly with steady flow of goods. Both these interventions vastly improved supply chain distribution and we were able to achieve pre-COVID levels by May 20, when the countrywide e-way bill generation was at 45% of pre-COVID levels. This was required as a support during peak COVID times.

Community support to battle the pandemic

Marico extended support to the government, citizens, support workers and medical fraternity, enabling united efforts at fighting the pandemic. We pulled together our resources and efforts to make a difference through our #UnitedagainstCOVID19 efforts: