MPW Repeat Winners: How Hina Nagarajan steered successfully Diageo through pandemic uncertainties

Since Hina Nagarajan took charge of Diageo India in the middle of the pandemic, the company’s performance has improved steadily, shrugging off challenges from multiple fronts. As the seasoned executive steered the ship towards premiumisation through an agile growth strategy, the company finally managed to distribute dividends to its stakeholders in FY24 for the first time since the acquisition of its flagship Indian entity, United Spirits Ltd (USL), in FY14. Last year, Diageo’s standalone net sales surged 10.5% year-on-year to Rs 10,692 crore, backed by its premium segment, which now forms 87% of its portfolio. With such a record, it’s no wonder that she is on the BT MPW list. “As a leader, I have two priorities: delivering sustained long-term growth and profitability for the company while empowering our teams to build an organisation of the future. Since I took charge as the MD & CEO, we are strategically focussed on premiumisation,” she tells BT, adding that this has resulted in acceleration of growth and profitability. Nagarajan says that over the next five years, with 100 million new consumers, India will have 25% of all new alco-beverage consumers in the world. The good times look set to keep flowing.