Now Reading: Nestle aims to make India a top five market soon
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Nestle aims to make India a top five market soon
Nestle SA chief executive Philipp Navratil has said India will become one of the company's top five markets by revenue in the near term. India is already among Nestle's 10 largest markets…
Nestle SA chief executive Philipp Navratil has said India will become one of the company's top five markets by revenue in the near term. India is already among Nestle's 10 largest markets and was its strongest-performing market by growth in the first half of 2026. Navratil said the objective could be achieved relatively soon and that growth would remain largely volume-driven.
The company operates nine manufacturing facilities in India and is building a tenth in Odisha. It had announced a Rs 5,000 crore investment programme for India in 2022. Navratil said future investment in India would be higher than the group average if the country continues to grow faster than Nestle globally. The company also plans to expand India's role as an export base.
Navratil, who took over as Nestle SA's CEO in September 2025, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week. The discussions covered the company's continued investment and its role in India's growth and development. Nestle has operated in India for 114 years and says it will not compromise on product quality or rush its expansion plans merely to accelerate growth.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Nestle's ambition to break into its own top five revenue markets places India alongside established giants such as the US, Brazil, China and the UK, a club whose entry criteria run into billions of dollars. The Swiss group has operated in India since the colonial era, making its 114-year presence longer than that of most domestic companies. Its Rs 5,000 crore investment plan, announced in 2022, is already funding the new Odisha factory and deeper distribution. With volume growth, not price hikes, driving the strategy, the company is betting that rising middle-class numbers will lift consumption faster than inflation. The real test is whether India can sustain the double-digit expansion that made it Nestle's fastest-growing major market in the June quarter, without the group sacrificing its margin discipline. The RBI's consumer demand data over the next two quarters will offer the first signal on whether that bet is paying off.
Source: retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
