NEW DELHI: “Faster, more flexible and more focused.” That’s what Nestlé India chairman and managing director (MD) Manish Tiwary wants the packaged foods company to become.
Less than a year at the company, the former Amazon India country manager and Unilever executive plans to achieve these goals by making the company more tech-ready across operations, improving its reach in the urban and rural markets, and using micro-markets to step up innovation and premium launches. Tiwary wants to leverage technology to improve efficiency end-to-end, not just in factories, supply chain or sales, and to invest savings in its brands.
“There are three focus areas there—strengthening our core brands— legacy is good, but we need to keep on further building on it. Second is the premiumization part of it. Third is, how do we build up Purina (pet food), Nespresso, and the Nestlé Professional business? These are very new businesses which we are building. We need money for that and that's where that whole digitization piece comes in,” Tiwary said in his first interview after assuming the role.
Nestlé Professional is the company's business-to-business arm tha provides branded food and beverage solutions.
Tiwary joined Nestlé India on 1 February 2025 as managing director-designate. He assumed the role of chairman and MD effective 1 August 2025, taking over from Suresh Narayanan, who was brought in during the peak of the company’s Maggi crisis in 2015. Tiwary is the first outsider to lead the India business of the Swiss firm.
Tiwary wants to use technology to not only sell more but to also monitor the market better through social listening, search data and real-time feedback.
“Technology is something which will help us do better. I'm just trying to make sure the payback periods are so efficient that it works well. I also want to enhance execution using technology,” he said.
Digitizing production lines
Nestlé operates nine factories in India and is digitizing most of their production lines.
“We have to figure out how to make a short production run cost-effective because… the consumer will not pay for an inefficiency on our side. We are digitizing most of our production lines; we are putting in technology. If I can reduce wastage from one in a million packs to one in 2 million, that’s not cost cutting, that’s cost optimization,” he said.
The plan is to remove inefficiencies.
“I want to pass it on to the consumer, because ultimately, if you have to address the rural population—the (low) price point packs become very important. To get it to that with the margin expectations of my shareholders you have to cut,” Tiwary said.
For Tiwary, the rule is simple: sharp marketers along with awesome feet on the streets—all backed by technology.
Nestlé sells chocolates, milk, ketchup, cooking aids, nutrition products for infants, cereals, curd, noodles, coffee and pet food in India. Maggi is the largest packaged noodle brand in India. The country is the second-largest market for its Kit-Kat chocolate. India is also one of the very fast-growing coffee (Nescafe) markets for the company.
In 2023, the packaged foods maker said it would invest ₹4,200 crore by 2025 to expand the manufacturing capacity of its noodles, coffee and chocolates portfolio. This includes roughly ₹900 crore in an upcoming factory (its 10th) in Odisha to make prepared dishes and cooking aids.
Nestlé India set up its first manufacturing facility at Moga in Punjab in 1961. It competes with ITC Ltd and Britannia Industries Ltd in India.
Capacity expansion
“For the last two financial years we have been putting capex of close to ₹2,000 crore annually. There’s a lot of capacity expansion happening in Sanand (plant) for noodles and confectionery; we will need more lines,” he said.
The company will invest in new production lines, given the kind of growth rates after GST rates were rationalized, he added. Tiwary wants to trim the time taken for new launches, a move followed by rival Hindustan Unilever Ltd in India.
“I’m going to use micro-markets to launch faster and get first-hand consumer feedback rather than look for big national launches. The big launches will happen, but this is the flexibility we are looking for,” he said.
Nestlé recently rolled out a low-sugar iced tea under the Nestea brand, made with green tea from its plant in Tamil Nadu. It was piloted in one city on a quick-commerce platform and tracked through ratings, reviews and season-long feedback.
Analysts said that under Tiwary, Nestlé is sharpening its focus on execution, digital acceleration and innovation speed.
“His background in FMCG and tech-led retail is expected to strengthen consumer engagement, improve affordability and enhance agility across categories… Focus remains on driving penetration through affordable packs and deeper rural reach,” Manoj Menon of ICICI Securities said in a note dated 16 October.
The move comes as the classic FMCG playbook is rewritten. Companies now test a product on an e-commerce platform and scale up within months, reducing the distribution advantage that legacy consumer goods firms once enjoyed. Consumer tastes have also widened, a shift that requires far more flexibility. This means short production runs and sharper consumer targeting.
“For us to be flexible to be able to address micro-segments, our entire backend needs to have that technology and the ability to forecast,” Tiwary said.
Premium offerings
The company has been tapping more premium consumption opportunities. Last year, it invested ₹705.6 crore via a joint venture with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd to sell wellness and nutrition products. It opened its maiden Nespresso coffee boutique in India this year.
In fiscal 2025, the company’s revenue from operations stood at ₹20,201.5 crore. Revenue in the 15-month period prior to that was ₹24,393.8 crore. The numbers are not comparable because Nestlé India moved from a calendar year to a fiscal year.
Nestlé India reported 10.9% revenue growth to ₹5,630.2 crore in the September quarter, driven by volume-led expansion across key categories. Several categories benefited from the revised and lowered goods and services tax (GST) implemented on 22 September.
Nestlé India shares traded at ₹1,176.4 on 7 October 2024, when Tiwary was named CEO-designate. The stock has since added 3.31% to ₹1,215.35 on the BSE on 9 December 2025. The broader NIFTY FMCG index declined 12.1% and the BSE FMCG index dropped 12.4% in the same period.
Across noodles, coffee, chocolates and packaged foods, India remains one of Nestlé’s lowest per-capita consumption markets globally. Monthly household penetration for categories like Maggi noodles is over 20%, Tiwary said.
“I'm very excited about both ends of the market. The top 30 million households in this country… in my judgment… should have that Nespresso machine at home,” he said.
In 50% of the market, among all consumer-packaged goods companies, Nestlé probably has the lowest penetration, but this excites him because of the headroom for growth. The rural markets account for 15% of the company's sales, much lower than for packaged foods company Britannia Industries, which draws about 40% of its domestic business from the hinterland.
Pet food
Tiwary said new businesses such as pet food, Nespresso and the joint venture with Dr Reddy’s are very powerful pillars.
“Globally, we are known for those businesses—they are still emerging in India. Fast forward 10 years—pet food would be one of the biggest businesses in India,” he added.
Earlier this year, the Swiss parent company announced global job cuts of 16,000 roles. Nestlé India’s permanent employee count fell 3.8% in FY25.
"My mantra is simply to invest more behind brands, stick to fewer, bolder things, and then drive efficiency cost optimization in the rest of the organization,” he said. “This market is only about penetration-led volume growth… things which can be automated, we would automate. The idea is to bring that efficiency in. For a company with lower penetration as us, people with the right skills will continue to find roles as you expand the business.”
Tiwary said he would be “disappointed” if Nestlé India does not deliver high single-digit volume growth every year for the next five years.