After successfully steering the FMCG major through the Maggi crisis in 2015, Suresh Narayanan has put Nestle onto a steady new growth path in the past few years. He won the BT-PwC India’s Best CEOs award in the FMCG category. In an exclusive interview with Business Today magazine, he talked about preparing Nestle for the future and the challenges ahead
After serving the Swiss giant for 17 years in various roles across regions, Suresh Narayanan was flown back to India in mid-2015 to lead the firefighting exercise that the FMCG major needed at the time. Amid the Maggi crisis, he was brought in with a simple mandate: put the company back on track
“I was coming back bang in the middle of a crisis. My first reaction was, why me?... But it was also a testimony of the trust the company had in me,” said Suresh Narayanan. Nestle India has come a long way from the Maggi situation but his “accumulated wisdom, having dealt with such situations in the past” remains a key element in pushing Nestle to new peaks
According to Suresh Narayanan, a lot has changed since he took charge in August 2015. He said, “Over the years, we have delivered penetration and volume growth that was industry leading for most of this period. Secondly, our portfolio is stronger than ever and Nestle leads in multiple categories that it is present in. And third, the pace of innovation is fairly active.”
Nestle India has grown its top line by 11 per cent CAGR since 2020, despite challenges. Its diversified portfolio is now yielding results, with 5.4 per cent of sales coming from new launches
What keeps him on his toes is an uncertain future that is turning more challenging as the days go by. “I am past the stage where I can acquire, but I am at a stage of giving back, by developing talent. The environment in the future is going to be far more challenging than what I faced,” Narayanan explains
To strengthen Nestle India’s foundation, Chairman and MD Suresh Narayanan has shifted its focus towards the rural market. Nestle India is now aiming to increase its reach to around 120,000 villages (with a population of over 2,000 people)
Suresh Narayanan, an avid reader and a passionate tennis player, values happiness over the success he has achieved. “Success is ephemeral. God has been kind to me and what I seek is a happy life rather than too much success,” he says, bowing his head in humility