Global consumer giants betting big on India’s consumption growth story

Global consumer products companies are betting big on India’s long-term growth potential across categories and are scaling up their operations. The top management of global majors such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, Reckitt, and Whirlpool are bullish on India, which they consider to be an attractive growth market.

During its H1 earnings call this month, health and hygiene products maker Reckitt stated, “Importantly, our geographic mix will be further shifted towards faster-growing emerging markets such as India, China, and Africa, where we have thriving businesses today.” The company also said that it sees an opportunity for rapid growth in its intimate wellness business in large emerging markets, including India, Africa, and Latin America.

Stating that the company remains “bullish” on India, James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, in an earnings call recently added, “Clearly, the big swing in Asia-Pacific is driven by the bounce back of India, you’ll remember that in the first quarter, India had a soft start. The second quarter was very strong, and that produced, obviously, a big swing in the results. So, India had good double-digit growth in volume in the second quarter.”

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Swiss packaged food major Nestle is betting big on India’s coffee market. The company’s management, in remarks during an analyst call, said that India is discovering coffee at a fast pace similar to patterns seen in China. The company expects to see a “positive future” for its coffee business in India “over a several-year time frame”

Meanwhile, Colgate-Palmolive’s management, in an earnings call, said it was encouraging to see “good volume growth” bounce back in markets such as India. It also noted in an investor presentation on its Q2 global earnings that its newly relaunched Colgate MaxFresh is the fastest-growing core sub-brand in India.

Earlier this month, Ramon Laguarta, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, said India is a key growth space and investment area for the snacks and beverage major. “The opportunity is massive if you take a decade’s perspective, and we are putting a lot of infrastructure on ground, investing in the brands to make sure we can build scale to capture what is going to be a high-demand market for many years,” he added.

Consumer durables major Whirlpool said it is continuing to witness “demand improvement in India” and considers it to be an “attractive growth market”.