ITC Takes Full Ownership of Yoga Bar: Why the FMCG Giant Bought the Health-Food Brand
ITC has completed the acquisition of Yoga Bar, taking full ownership of Sproutlife Foods, the company behind the popular health and nutrition brand. The move marks another significant step in ITC’s strategy to build a larger presence in India’s rapidly evolving healthy-food and nutrition market.
On September 28, 2026, ITC acquired the remaining 52.5% stake in Sproutlife Foods for approximately ₹645 crore. With this transaction, ITC’s ownership increased from 47.5% to 100%, making Sproutlife Foods a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC.
The acquisition is particularly noteworthy because Yoga Bar has grown substantially since ITC first invested in the business. Sproutlife reported turnover of ₹452 crore in FY2025-26, compared with ₹200 crore in FY2024-25 and ₹108 crore in FY2023-24.
ITC’s Yoga Bar journey began in 2023
The latest transaction is actually the completion of a deal that began more than three years ago.
In January 2023, ITC announced that it would acquire 100% of Sproutlife Foods over a period of approximately three to four years. The initial plan involved acquiring 47.5% of the company, followed by the remaining stake based on pre-agreed valuation criteria and other conditions.
Yoga Bar appealed to ITC because it was already positioned in categories that were expected to benefit from changing Indian consumption habits.
The brand offered products including nutrition bars, muesli, oats and cereals and had built a strong digital presence through its direct-to-consumer business and e-commerce platforms. ITC’s original announcement described Yoga Bar as a digital-first brand focused on health-conscious consumers.
By acquiring the remaining stake in 2026, ITC has now completed the transition from strategic investor to full owner.
Why does Yoga Bar matter to ITC?
The answer lies in the changing Indian consumer.
For decades, much of India’s packaged-food market was built around traditional categories such as biscuits, snacks, noodles, staples and confectionery. However, consumers are increasingly looking for products associated with protein, fibre, convenience, nutrition and healthier eating.
Yoga Bar operates directly in this space.
Its product portfolio includes protein bars, breakfast cereals, muesli and other nutrition-focused products. This gives ITC exposure to consumers who may not necessarily be looking for conventional FMCG products.
For ITC, therefore, Yoga Bar is not simply another food brand. It is a way to participate more deeply in the emerging nutrition-led consumption market.
ITC has been building a broader “Good for You” portfolio and has also been investing in digital-first and organic brands. In its FY2026 communication, ITC said its newer acquisitions, including Yoga Bar, 24 Mantra, Mother Sparsh and Prasuma & Meatigo, had together reached annual recurring revenue of more than ₹1,350 crore and delivered robust growth during the year.
Yoga Bar’s growth is the biggest attraction
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the acquisition is the speed at which Sproutlife has expanded.
Its reported turnover has moved as follows:
- FY2022-23: ₹88 crore
- FY2023-24: ₹108 crore
- FY2024-25: ₹200 crore
- FY2025-26: ₹452 crore
The jump from ₹200 crore to ₹452 crore in one year is particularly significant.
This growth makes the acquisition strategically more interesting than it might have appeared when ITC initially invested in the company.
The challenge for ITC now will be converting this growth into sustainable profitability while maintaining Yoga Bar’s brand identity.
What can ITC bring to Yoga Bar?
This is where the acquisition could become important.
Yoga Bar built its business as a relatively young, digital-first consumer brand. ITC, on the other hand, possesses a huge established FMCG infrastructure.
ITC’s distribution network, procurement capabilities, manufacturing expertise, marketing resources and relationships with retailers could potentially allow Yoga Bar to expand beyond its existing customer base.
The company has also been strengthening its presence in e-commerce, quick commerce and modern trade. ITC said digitally enabled sales and modern trade accounted for 34% of sales across its branded packaged foods, personal-care products, incense sticks and safety matches businesses in FY2026.
That infrastructure can be particularly useful for a brand such as Yoga Bar.
A product that starts by selling primarily through online channels can potentially reach millions of additional consumers when supported by a large FMCG distribution system.
ITC paid ₹645 crore for the remaining stake
ITC paid approximately ₹645 crore to acquire the remaining 52.5% stake.
On a simple calculation, that transaction implies a value of roughly ₹1,229 crore for 100% of Sproutlife based on the price paid for the remaining stake.
Compared with FY2025-26 turnover of ₹452 crore, that represents an implied valuation of around 2.7 times annual revenue.
However, revenue multiples alone do not tell us whether an acquisition is expensive or inexpensive.
The quality of growth, margins, cash generation, brand strength, customer acquisition costs, working capital requirements and future expansion potential all matter.
There is also an important historical context. ITC had already invested around ₹255 crore to reach approximately 47.5% ownership before the latest transaction.
The final purchase price was based on valuation criteria agreed when the original transaction was structured, rather than being a completely new acquisition negotiated from scratch in 2026.
The bigger strategy: ITC wants future-ready FMCG brands
Yoga Bar fits into a much broader transformation underway at ITC.
The company has been trying to build businesses beyond its traditional cigarette franchise and strengthen its branded packaged-food portfolio.
Its food business already includes major brands such as Aashirvaad and Sunfeast. But the next generation of consumers may have different preferences from previous generations.
Protein, low-sugar products, natural ingredients, convenience foods, functional nutrition and healthier snacking are becoming increasingly important themes in urban consumption.
Yoga Bar gives ITC a ready-made brand in this environment.
Rather than building a new health-food brand from scratch, ITC has acquired a company that already has consumer recognition, products, distribution relationships and digital traction.
What happens next?
The most important question is no longer whether ITC owns Yoga Bar. It does.
The bigger question is what ITC does with it.
ITC could expand Yoga Bar’s presence in supermarkets, general trade, quick-commerce platforms and smaller Indian cities. It could also introduce new products under the brand and use its sourcing and manufacturing capabilities to improve economies of scale.
At the same time, ITC will need to preserve what made Yoga Bar successful in the first place.
Young digital-first brands can lose some of their appeal if they become overly corporate or lose their connection with their original consumer base.
The next few years will therefore be important for determining whether Yoga Bar becomes a much larger national nutrition brand within ITC’s portfolio.
What does the acquisition mean for ITC shareholders?
For ITC shareholders, the Yoga Bar acquisition is relatively small compared with the overall size of ITC. The ₹645 crore payment does not fundamentally change the financial profile of the conglomerate.
The strategic significance is greater than the immediate financial impact.
ITC is effectively placing capital behind a category that it expects to grow over the long term.
If Yoga Bar continues growing rapidly and ITC successfully uses its distribution and scale advantages, the brand could become a meaningful contributor to ITC’s foods business.
But investors will ultimately need to watch more than revenue growth. Profitability, margins, cash generation and return on capital will determine how valuable the acquisition becomes.
Conclusion
ITC’s complete acquisition of Yoga Bar’s parent Sproutlife Foods represents the final stage of a transaction that began in 2023.
The ₹645 crore purchase of the remaining 52.5% stake gives ITC complete control of a brand that has expanded its turnover from ₹108 crore in FY2023-24 to ₹452 crore in FY2025-26.
For Yoga Bar, the deal provides access to the resources and distribution capabilities of one of India’s largest diversified FMCG companies. For ITC, it strengthens exposure to the growing health, nutrition and convenient-snacking market.
The acquisition itself is only the beginning. The real test will be whether ITC can take Yoga Bar from a successful digital-first nutrition brand and turn it into a significantly larger mass-market consumer business while maintaining its appeal to health-conscious consumers.
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