Nestle India ropes in Amazon’s ‘ex-employee’ as its new MD The board has cleared ex-Amazon India head Manish Tiwary for the position of Managing Director of Nestle India. He replaces Suresh Narayanan as the company looks to address the lack of growth in sales and increased competition in India’s growing market.

In the parent company context, Nestle has shortlisted Manish Tiwary, former head of Amazon India, to lead Nestle India as its Managing Director. The news comes at a time when Nestle India is fighting stagnant sales and competition in this ever-changing market in India. Given his background in e-commerce, the food giant would surely get new ideas.

Former Head of Amazon India Heads Nestle India

The man who did most of the behind-the-scenes legwork to transform Amazon India from a negligible player to one that can now challenge the local established players in the market is likely to take the reins at Nestle India, the country’s largest packaged food company. So said the Swiss parent of the Indian company.

The board approval would therefore be sought by Nestle India before he starts his new responsibility. The appointment is at a sensitive time for the company, which has been facing slow revenue growth and greater competition in the Indian market. Nestle India’s new MD will be waiting in the wings after its outgoing managing director Suresh Narayanan retires on July 30, 2024. It would mark ten years in office for him.

Manish Tiwary at Amazon India

The period under which Manish Tiwary spent at Amazon India was a period of tremendous growth. He headed the Indian unit of the firm for more than four years when the company had overtaken its homegrown competitor, Flipkart, and emerged as a strong leader in the country’s e-commerce business. Under his stewardship at that critical juncture, it ensured the reputation and share of the market Amazon had in India.

Before entering Amazon, Tiwary worked for eight years in various top-level positions in Unilever’s subsidiaries both in India and the Middle East, hence holding qualifying credentials. His experience both in e-commerce and traditional retail add breadth of scope to the individual chosen to guide the future operations of Nestle India.

While Tiwary has not spoken up yet, the declaration sends a signal for new victory for Nestle India as it battles for regaining lost ground with improving performance in new market dynamics.

Challenges Faced by Nestle India

Nestle India has its work cut out. The maker of Maggi noodles reported the slowest revenue growth in eight years in the June quarter, short of market estimates. While Nestle is already seeing competitors gaining ground and consumer preferences shifting away from traditional packaged foods, the choice of category is coming under scrutiny as Nestle relies heavily on a category that provides a bulk of its profitability.

Its shares are down 3.2% this year, while the benchmark Nifty 50 index in India has surged 14%. That may not be good news for Nestle India, because investors have got to be concerned that it is losing share.

The Future: The Legacy of Suresh Narayanan

Suresh Narayanan is moving on after ten years. A legacy: He takes out Nestle from troubled waters. Having managed different regional operations for Nestle-Philippines, Egypt, and Singapore, he took on the reins of Nestle India when the company was battling regulatory blues following the Maggi noodles ban in 2015.

Even though Narayanan is demitting the position as a managing director, the company had not announced till date who would take up the chairmanship that was vacated by him. The company said it will discuss the issue when the parent company makes the nomination for the position.

Tiwary’s Vision for Nestle India

With renewed competition in the food sector, Nestle India with the new chairman Somesh B Tiwary has the task of revisiting its strategy. Here is an article published in Business Standard bringing out the comprehensive vision of Somesh Tiwary to restore Nestle India to its top rank.

This has also underscored the vision of Nestle in rejuvenating growth strategies in India. With respect to his experience on e-commerce, which is now emerging in a new avatar in food and consumer goods, he will be the one leading Nestle India through innovation in digital marketing, distribution, and customer engagement. The increased role of e-commerce in consumer buying may prompt Nestle India to latch onto such opportunities to build up sales momentum.

With Tiwary at Amazon India, it has been described that he is a strategic thinker with a great understanding of consumer behavior in the Indian landscape, so navigating the complexities around needs and wants of food and beverages should come quite naturally to him. Experience with one of the world’s leading e-commerce companies will likely be an important plus for Nestle India while gearing up for scale up of its reach, both online and offline.

New Leadership, New Directions. All eyes now will be on how Tiwary utilizes the whole gamut of his experience to the advantage of the company and crosses the current hurdles. He is expected to bring a new approach which can resuscitate the sales performance of the House of Nestle in the Indian market besides fueling the growth story. All the experience he has acquired at Amazon India and Unilever will give him a very telling view in approaching the rapidly changing and highly competitive food industry.

While awaiting board nod, the appointment does come in opportune time for Nestle India as it seeks to regain investor confidence and get on a growth trajectory in the rapidly changing market landscape. What key takeaways from the appointment?

Former Amazon India head Manish Tiwary named to be appointed as Nestle India’s MD/CEO. Tiwary’s appointment comes at a time when Suresh Narayanan had been at the helm of Nestle India almost for an entire decade, before retiring.

Nestle India shares have fallen 3.2 per cent so far this year as sales remain flat and the company faces increasing competition.

He takes on the shops tomorrow : Tiwary’s experience in web-commerce and traditional retail gets him working on innovation in the company’s operations.