Maggi crisis among career's greatest challenge: Nestle India MD Suresh Narayanan
Nestle India's chairman Suresh Narayanan highlighted India's market dynamics as a mix of inflationary pressures and opportunities in his farewell letter. Despite a profit dip due to commodity costs, domestic sales reached a record high. The company invested significantly in capacity building and expanded its retail presence, with brands like Maggi and Nescafe driving growth over the past decade.
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Packaged foods maker Nestle India 's chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan called out India as a market with a mix of 'inflationary pressures and unexpected opportunities', in his last letter to the company's shareholders. Narayanan , associated with Nestle for over 26 years, will retire from the India role on July 31 this year, to be succeeded by former Amazon India top boss Manish Tiwary."We live in capricious times, inflationary pressures , muted consumer demand , tightening of the wallet - wrapped up in a decade of challenges and unexpected opportunities,' Narayanan wrote in the company's just released annual report for 2024-25.Noting that 'volatilities will come and go', Narayanan said his first 100 days as Nestle India chairman 'were one of the greatest challenges of his career'. In 2015, Nestle's mainstay brand, Maggi instant noodles, was banned by food regulator FSSAI on allegations of some samples of Maggi containing lead in excess of permissible limits. The brand was cleared by authorities subsequently and was restored back on shelves, but the controversy took a huge toll on Maggi and the entire instant noodles category that year. Narayanan noted that now India is the world's largest market for the Maggi brand, as the company navigated 'the black swans and gray rhinos'.The maker of Maggi noodles and Nescafe coffee reported a 5.2% year-on-year decline in standalone quarterly net profit at Rs 885 crore for the March-April '25 quarter, impacted by commodity costs. The company's domestic sales touched a quarter high at Rs 5,235 crore, up 4.2% from a year ago, with revenue from operations up 4.5% y-o-y to Rs 5,504 crore. The company said it invested around Rs 6,500 crore between 2020 and 2025 to develop new capabilities and capacity.Narayanan said Nestle added 1.3 million more retail outlets last year, with presence in close to 209,050 villages. On brand reach, he said Nescafe brought more than 43 million households into the coffee category, confectionery tripled its business in the last decade and that the prepared dishes and cooking aids business doubled the Maggi franchise in India. Nestle's capex has gone up from 1.8% of sales in 2015 to 10% in the FY 2024-25, he said.The past decade has seen Nestle's revenue grow at a CAGR of 10.3% and profit from operations higher by 13.5%.
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