UPDATE 1-Nestle India unit’s profit beats estimates on higher demand

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BENGALURU/CHENNAI, April 25 (Reuters) – Nestle India reported a bigger-than-expected increase in its quarterly profit on Thursday, as it benefited from higher product prices and demand for its packaged food items.

The Indian arm of the Swiss food giant Nestle reported a net profit of 9.34 billion rupees ($112.03 million)for the three months ended March 31, compared with 7.37 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts polled by LSEG, on average, had expected a profit of 8.71 billion rupees.

Consumer goods makers have seen steady demand for certain food items such as chocolates and biscuits, while they have also raised prices on some products including coffee and noodles to protect their bottomline.

For Nestle India, revenue from operations climbed to 52.68 billion rupees, from 48.31 billion rupees a year earlier.

Earlier in the day, parent Nestle SA missed first-quarter organic sales growth estimates as it raised prices and sold fewer products. ($1 = 83.3675 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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