The world’s cheapest Domino’s pizza is in inflation-hit India. It costs $0.60

A Domino's staff member stands next to a sign for a 49-rupee pizza at a restaurant in Noida, India, July 4, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 20 July 2023
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The world’s cheapest Domino’s pizza is in inflation-hit India. It costs $0.60

  • Inflation in India sparks cheaper offers from global giant
  • Domino’s and Pizza Hut tout world’s cheapest pizzas

CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Q: How does the world’s biggest pizza brand respond to high inflation in the world’s most populous nation? A: With the world’s cheapest Domino’s pizza.

The 49-rupee ($0.60) pizza in India, Domino’s No.1 market outside America, is the tip of the spear in its fight against rampant inflation that’s squeezing profits and pricing out many customers, according to the CEO of its franchisee there.

The company wants to “own that price point,” said Sameer Khetarpal, confirming the stripped down, seven-inch cheese pizza with a “sprinkle” of basil and parsley is Domino’s cheapest anywhere.

“You are coming to the store or open the app, because there is a 49-rupee callout,” he said, adding that Domino’s global team supported the plans. “Customers are going to eat out less because prices are higher everywhere — our existing consumers should not go out to some competition.”

In Shanghai, by comparison, Domino’s (DPZ.N) cheapest savoury pizza is priced about $3.80, and in San Francisco about $12, online menu prices show. Domino’s global HQ referred queries about India to its local franchisee.

Reuters interviews with six executives and 12 store managers revealed how Domino’s and other global fast-food giants like Pizza Hut and Burger King are being forced to change tactics to weather rampant inflation in the market of 1.4 billion people.

The companies are striving to hold onto market share gained over three decades of rapid growth in a nation critical to their futures — and one where it’s tough to compete with a street-food culture and a sizzling samosa for as little as 10 rupees.

Khetarpal, whose Jubilant FoodWorks (JUBI.NS) runs Domino’s 1,816 outlets in the country, says he holds a staff meeting first thing every Monday to brainstorm new ways to manage costs and fight the “historic high inflation” that contributed to its profits sliding 70 percent in the first three months of 2023.

He gave new details of Domino’s India pivot and its financial gains; his company has removed lids from all boxes of pizzas sold at stores starting December, saving 0.6 cents each time. He said that amounts to a significant saving in packaging costs because 37 percent of Domino’s Indian business is dine-in.

Jubilant — whose Domino’s business accounted for most of its $635 million in revenues last year — also aims to secure rent rebates from some store landlords by offering upfront payments, Khetarpal said, declining to give further details about cost benefits.

CUSTOMERS EMPTY POCKETS

Domino’s is not alone in zeroing in on prices in India, a highly price-sensitive market that is currently facing higher inflation than many other markets including the US The hope is that low-price offers will draw people to stores and apps who might order more add-ons or upgrade, the executives said.

Pizza Hut is aggressively promoting pizzas starting at 79 rupees ($0.96) that it launched last year and its India franchisee, Sapphire Foods (SAPI.NS), said it was the brand’s lowest-priced globally.

Merrill Pereyra, managing director of Pizza Hut in the Indian subcontinent, said the chain was developing products that “make the brand relevant and easy to access” for price conscious consumers in India, adding its budget pizzas were a hit with young people.

McDonald’s (MCD.N) launched half-price meals in June. They’ll be the focus of promotion efforts in coming weeks, according to Akshay Jatia, executive director at Westlife Foodworld (WEST.NS), which runs 357 outlets in western and southern India. He said the meals would bring in more customers and boost sales and margins.

The budget products are indeed being accompanied by a digital and physical marketing blitz across the nation — with stores, and even a posh New Delhi mall, plastered with banners, according to Reuters visits to stores across four Indian states.

Domino’s flagship inflation-buster is the 49-rupee pizza, which was launched in February. Khetarpal said it was “re-engineered” by cutting price — and tomatoes — from its earlier cheapest offering of 59 rupees.

Franchisee Jubilant said in May it witnessed a cheese price surge of 40 percent during 2022-23, and a 30 percent rise in chicken and paper boxes. There have been more shocks in recent weeks, with tomato prices rising over 400 percent to record highs and households toiling under rising rates of everything from milk to cereals and spices, according to official data.

The industry players described a tale of two consumers in a country with yawning gaps between rich and poor.

Many low and middle-income earners who saw dining at foreign chains as a lifestyle upgrade when the economy boomed are tightening belts as inflation bites, while the wealthier continue to spend on products like pricier smartphones, and SUV cars whose sales are touching new highs.

When Khetarpal visited Domino’s stores in Chennai and other cities, he said he saw customers emptying out their pockets and only being able to scrape together 49 rupees. By contrast, he added, Domino’s new gourmet pizzas priced as high as $14 had seen a sales jump in some affluent areas.

'A SMALL LAYER OF CHEESE'

It’s been a bleak year for Domino’s, the Indian fast-food restaurant leader with a market share of about 12.5 percent, as well as for other companies.

Pre-tax profit at Pizza Hut’s Sapphire Foods more than halved in the March quarter. Burger King’s India franchisee, Restaurant Brands Asia (RESR.NS), saw its net loss widen by 9 percent.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Euromonitor International estimates India’s nearly $5 billion market for quick-service restaurants which serve fast food is a fraction of United States’ $341 billion and China’s $137 billion.

The narrower market for pizza, burger and chicken restaurants, dominated by Western chains and worth $2.1 billion in India, will grow, but at a slower pace. Its estimated growth rate is around 15 percent a year until 2027, Euromonitor forecasts. That compares with 21 percent growth in 2022 and 43 percent in 2021 largely due to a post-COVID consumption spike.

Pizza Hut owner Yum Brands (YUM.N) sounded a bullish tone in June, comparing its 17,000 US outlets to its over 2,000 in India, where it sees a “tremendous growth opportunity.”

There are still daunting challenges in the near term.

“For a population eating roadside, in the current environment where inflation is hurting their pockets, (the new offers) are still on the higher side,” said Devanshu Bansal, a consumer analyst at India’s Emkay Global Financial Services.

And many pizza-lovers like Kiran Raj will never contemplate budget offerings. The 26-year-old bank employee said he was prepared to pay a little more for a cheese-loaded product as he devoured slices at Pizza Lounge, a local restaurant in Chennai.

“I avoid buying the sub-100-rupee pizzas at stores operated by big chains as they generally contain less toppings and a small layer of cheese,” he added. “It’s just a rough crust.”


Singapore PM urges voters to re-elect his cabinet to deal with US, China

Updated 59 min 13 sec ago
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Singapore PM urges voters to re-elect his cabinet to deal with US, China

  • PM Wong urges voters to stick with his team in face of US tariffs, US-China tensions
  • Last day of campaigning ahead of May 3 election

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to vote for candidates who have built up trust and close relationships with counterparts in the US and China, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Thursday, urging voters to re-elect his cabinet at a May 3 poll.
Addressing a 1.4 million-strong labor union on the last day of campaigning, Wong warned of economic turbulence and job losses if US tariffs slow global growth. His government has warned the trade-reliant economy may face a possible recession.
“We must expect more pressure on us and to navigate these pressures, it will take experience and skill. It will take people in government who have built up trust and close relationships with their counterparts in both America and China,” Wong said.
He said voters needed to re-elect his whole team to effectively deal with these economic headwinds.
“I have backups, I have reserves, sure. But everyone knows that the team cannot function at the same level. It’s the same in any organization, and it will be so in our next cabinet if we end up with such a loss,” he said, referring to the possible loss of his deputy prime minister.
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party, in power since 1959, is widely expected to be easily re-elected, but there is growing unhappiness with its governance in the face of rising costs of living.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong was nominated at the 11th hour in a hotbed contest in a ward in northeast Singapore in an effort to stop the main opposition Workers’ Party, which won 10 seats in the last parliament.
Campaigning in recent days has zeroed in on Gan being new to the area, after an incumbent ruling party candidate called the opposition team strangers. The opposition fired back, asking if Gan was the real stranger to the constituency.
Wong has thrown his weight behind Gan, calling him his “taskforce man” because Gan co-headed the COVID-19 taskforce and is now chairing the “economic resilience” taskforce dealing with the impact of US tariffs.
“The key person in charge of this work is no stranger to you. He is no stranger to the whole of Singapore,” Wong said on Thursday.
This is the first electoral test for Wong, who took over from long-time premier Lee Hsien Loong last year as leader of the People’s Action Party.
Six political parties and an independent candidate have rallies scheduled for Thursday night.
Parties get to fire their last salvos on Thursday before 2.76 million voters go to a compulsory poll on Saturday after a short nine-day campaign season. Friday is designated as a “cooling off” day, meant for voters to decide on their ballot, and parties are not allowed to campaign.


Former VP Harris says Trump’s America is ‘self-serving’

Updated 58 min 10 sec ago
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Former VP Harris says Trump’s America is ‘self-serving’

  • Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms
  • Recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult

SAN FRANCISCO: Former US vice president Kamala Harris hit out at Donald Trump and his backers on Wednesday, in her first major speech since losing November’s election.
The defeated Democrat told supporters the apparent “chaos” of the last three months was actually the realization of a long-cherished plan by conservatives who are using Trump to twist the United States to their own advantage.
“What we are, in fact, witnessing is a high velocity event, where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making,” she told an audience in San Francisco.
“An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest.
“A narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves.”
Trump’s first 100 days in power have been marked by a dizzying array of executive orders tackling everything from immigration to foreign aid to showerhead pressure.
Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms, including clashing with the courts.
While Trump’s supporters have cheered some of the rapid-fire changes, recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult, particularly from his oft-changing tariffs.
Harris, who is thought to be mulling a run for the governorship of her home state of California in 2026 or a possible White House run in 2028, has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving Washington in January.
On Wednesday she was a guest speaker at an event run by Emerge, a political organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for public office.
She told the crowd that Trump was targeting universities and courts because he wanted to cow the opposition.
“President Trump, his administration, and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious,” she said.
“They are counting on the notion that, if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others.”
But, she said, there were judges, academics, politicians and regular people who were standing up to the government.
“Fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious,” she said.
“The courage of all these Americans inspires me.”


South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

Updated 01 May 2025
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South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

  • The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges
  • The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office

SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors have indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol for abuse of authority, Yonhap said on Thursday.
The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges, brought against Yoon over his brief imposition of martial law in December.
The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office. An official at the prosecutor’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.


Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

Updated 01 May 2025
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Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister said Thursday that those who planned and carried out an attack in Kashmir last week that left 26 men dead “must be brought to justice.”
New Delhi blames Pakistan for the gun attack on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.
Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.
“Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” India’s top diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a statement following a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening in which they discussed the attack.
Rubio also spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in a US readout of the call, told Sharif of the “need to condemn the terror attack” in Kashmir.
Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other overnight along the Line of Control, the de facto border in contested Kashmir, the Indian army said.
It was a seventh straight night gunfire was reported by India.
“During the night... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small-arms fire across the Line of Control opposite Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor,” the army said in a statement.
“These were responded proportionately by the Indian Army.”
There were no reported casualties and there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.
Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting and vowed that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
 


Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

Updated 01 May 2025
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Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

  • At a Cabinet meeting, Trump hinted at Musk giving up his DOGE role “to get back home to his cars”
  • Musk's Tesla car company had been hit by boycott calls over his role in gutting the US bureaucracy

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tesla boss Elon Musk could stay working for the White House as long as he wanted but understood the tycoon wanted to get back to his businesses.
Musk last month said he will step back from his role as the unofficial head of the administration’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” to focus more on his troubled Tesla car company.
“The vast majority of the people in this country really respect and appreciate you,” Trump told Musk during a White House cabinet meeting, which could be his last before giving up his DOGE role.
“And you know you’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said, though added that Musk may want “to get back home to his cars.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, has seen his Tesla car company, which is the major source of his wealth, suffer significant brand damage from his political work.
Tesla showrooms have been hit by vandalism and boycott calls in Europe and the United States in a backlash against public service cuts introduced by Musk in his role as a close adviser to Trump.
“You really have sacrificed a lot. They treated you very unfairly,” Trump said of opponents to Musk.
“They did like to burn my cars, which is not great,” Musk responded.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Tesla’s board had begun procedures several weeks ago to find a successor to Musk as CEO.
The outlet reported — citing people familiar with the matter — that the board had met with Musk and told him that he needed to spend more time with the company, rather than in Washington.
David Sacks, a close Musk ally who is also a member of the Trump administration, last week said that Musk would not be leaving DOGE but reducing his role.
This was the same plan he carried out during his takeover of Twitter in 2022, he said.
“Once he felt like he had a mental model and he had the people in place that he trusted, he can move to more of a maintenance mode,” Sacks told the All-In podcast.