Mumbai: Nestle India, after 17 long years, will be headed by an Indian. The company, making a statement on Friday said that Etienne Benet, the Managing Director for India will be replaced by Suresh Narayanan, a former Nestle India executive and currently chief executive of the company’s Philippines unit. Benet will be moving to the group’s head office in Switzerland, while Narayanan will be taking charge from Aug 1, it was informed
In what can be called the worst ever public relations crisis in the country, Swiss food group Nestle faced a major blow following a food scare that forced it to withdraw its popular instant noodles brand ‘Maggi’.
This situation calls for Narayanan to buck up as the company is making desperate attempts to recover from the damage to its biggest brand that was worth Rs 2000 crore. Since the ban was imposed, Nestle has destroyed 24,000 tonnes of Maggi stock, and taken a loss of Rs 2,500 crore, or 20 percent of its annual revenues in India.
The company has been widely criticize for its slow response to consumer worries over safety. Hence the change in leadership for the business was expected by analysts for a while now.
The Nestle group has since challenged the findings of India’s food safety authority in court.”An Indian in India is able to possibly interact better with the government at large,” said brand strategist Harish Bijoor. Unlike Hindustan Lever, which has been led by Indians since 1961, Nestle has reposed its faith in expat managing directors since 1998.
The Swiss firm had to bring group chief executive Paul Bulcke to calm consumers at a televised press conference last month, where he was frequently shouted down by Indian reporters.
Bulcke acknowledged the company had slipped in the way it handled the food scare. “If you have confusion there is something wrong with communications. That’s why we are sitting here,” he said at the event.
The company now waits hopefully for a change in the scenario in India for the Nestle group with Suresh Narayanan as the Managing Director.
