Noel Tata talks up Trent's grocery business as its next big Star

Mint

4 days ago

Bengaluru: Trent Ltd's grocery business, Star, holds the potential to become larger than the Tata Group-backed company's flagship fashion brands Zudio and Westside, chairman Noel Tata said on Thursday.
'This is only because the food market is much bigger than the market for clothing,' Tata said addressing shareholders at Trent's annual general meeting. 'So, we are convinced there's a huge opportunity there and with time you will see that we will deliver a big business in the food and grocery space as well.'
Trent ended Thursday's trading session with a market capitalisation of ₹ 2,19,918.76 crore, which makes it the Tata Group's fourth-most valuable company, behind Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Titan Co. Ltd, andTata Motors Ltd.
Trent's focus on Star comes less than a year after Noel Tata's son Neville Tata, 32, was appointed as the business head of the grocery business.
Star has accumulated over ₹ 1,000 crore in losses over the previous six years. Zudio, meanwhile, crossed the ₹ 8,300 crore revenue mark in 2024-25, while Westside generated ₹ 6,210 crore in revenue.
Star, however, contributed about 15.2% to Trent's consolidated revenue in FY25, underscoring its growing weight in the company's overall portfolio. Star recorded its highest-ever revenue of ₹ 8,854 crore during the year, up nearly 25% from FY24.
According to an analyst report by HDFC Securities Ltd, Trent plans to invest ₹ 2,000 crore in Trent Hypermarket Pvt. Ltd, which runs Star, this financial year. That would be nearly three times the ₹ 754 crore Trent has invested in its grocery business in nearly two decades, the brokerage firm said in a note dated June 27.
Neol Tata did not comment on this at the AGM. Trent did not immediately reply to Mint's emailed queries.
Trent shares ended Thursday's trading on NSE down 0.68% at ₹ 6,180.00 each, while the benchmark Nifty 50 index shed 0.19%.
Trent's Star format store has prioritised focus on building in-house or private-label products. In the fourth quarter of FY25, private-label products accounted for 72% of Star's sales. Fresh produce and general merchandise together accounted for 50.5% of Star's product mix during the quarter.
'They (Star) are not growing aggressively at the moment,' said Pratik Prajapati, equity research analyst at financial advisory Ambit. 'The priority is chasing growth and making existing stores profitable before expanding further.'
Trent's ambition for Star, however, comes at a time when quick-commerce firms likeSwiggy's Instamart, Zomato's Blinkit, and Zepto are upending how people, particularly in large cities, buy groceries.
'The format (Star) is facing tough competition in these markets, where speed and convenience are becoming as important as price,' said Prajapati.
According to a February report by PwC and Hansa Research, quick-commerce in India grew at 73% in FY24, with over 90% of its demand concentrated in India's top eight cities. Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart have made significant inroads in metropolitan cities, where 42% of consumers prefer instant deliveries for essentials such as packaged food and personal care products, it said.
Noel Tata, who is credited with building Zudio and Westside, was appointed chair of Tata Trusts in October following the passing of Ratan Tata. Tata Trusts is the umbrella entity that oversees the functioning of all the philanthropic entities of Tatas, including the seven Tata Trusts that together own 65.9% of Tata Sons.
Tata Sons, headed by chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, is the group's operating company and owns shares in 26 Tata companies, including Trent, TCS, and Tata Motors.