For nine decades, Hindustan Unilever owned the Indian kitchen. Now, Reliance is buying the grocery store. A data-driven analysis of the most consequential FMCG battle of our generation. Picture a kirana owner in Nagpur — call him Ramesh — who has stocked Surf Excel, Lux, and Horlicks since his father opened the shop in 1987. Last quarter, a Reliance field rep offered him a margin structure he'd never seen before: better returns, faster replenishment, and doorstep delivery in 24 hours. Ramesh didn't switch because he stopped believing in HUL. He switched because the maths changed. That is precisely what Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) is engineering — not a battle for minds, but a battle for margins, infrastructure, and the invisible data that links what a billion Indians want to what lands on their shelves.   1.  The Numbers Behind the Ambition RCPL's financial trajectory reads less like a startup and more like a controlled detonation. Backed by the towering scale...