MPW 2022: How Hina Nagarajan broke the glass ceiling at India's alco-bev industry

When Hina Nagarajan took charge of Diageo India in July 2021, it created a lot of chatter. “There were millions of comments on LinkedIn with people congratulating me and saying they were thrilled that a woman was going to lead one of the largest alco-bev companies in the country,” says Nagarajan, part of the BT Most Powerful Women in Business 2022 list.

For her it was about normalising the narrative around India and the alco-bev industry. “There are no specific positives or negatives of being a woman CEO,” she says. But grooming and promoting women leaders is something close to her heart. Today, 33 per cent of Diageo’s leadership is women. Nagarajan says inclusion and diversity is a very important part of their strategy and Diageo is looking at women making up half its leadership team. It has also employed people with disabilities and from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Post-Covid-19, Diageo has seen its premium portfolio expanding faster than its regular portfolio. In the nine months of FY23, while the overall portfolio has grown by 21 per cent, the premium one has grown by 22.7 per cent. “People are drinking lesser but better. They are sticking to high-quality brands,” says Nagarajan. Diageo India posted net sales of Rs 7,183 crore for the nine months ended December 2022, with an Ebitda of Rs 967 crore.