Nestle CEO: India to be among top 5 Nestle markets in near future; major export hub

Swiss FMCG major Nestle CEO Philipp Navratil on Wednesday said India is a key market for growth and expects it to be among the top five global markets for the company in the near future according to news agency PTIIndia in terms of growth is one of the highest performers of the group and was the highestperforming market in the first half of 2026 It is among the top 10 markets and there continues to be further opportunity here to drive Top five in terms of topline contribution is definitely on the horizon Navratil saidHe added that this was nearterm goal rather than a distant goal and the Nestle India is already working towards this objectiveTop five is definitely it is on the horizon It is not something that will happen 20 years down the road It is on the horizon And the team is working towards that he saidNestle to continue to invest in IndiaNestle the maker of popular brands as Maggi Kit Kat Nescafe among others sees plenty of growth opportunities in India which is already the highestperforming market for the group in terms of growth and the company expects a volumeled growth with support of investmentsThough Navratil did not share any specific number over the investment in India he said it will be higher than other marketsThere is nothing to announce but you should expect investment in India to be consistent and as India grows above the group average the investment will also be above the group average in this country And we see we are investing for the long term so this is we are really excited about the longterm potential of India and the investment that is necessary to capture that we will not hesitate to put that in he saidNestle had in 2022 announced Rs 5000 crore investment for India It operates nine active manufacturing facilities with a tenth plant currently under development in Odisha as per PTIIndia is among the strongest growth drivers for Nestle across emerging markets supported by its extensive reach and ability to cater effectively to consumer needs Navratil saidI believe it is due to a few things here including being able to serve the consumers in a meaningful way by being deeply distributed If you look at where the opportunities are the amount of people the number of consumers that will move into the middle class and urbanisation all those trends exist in India said NavratilKey areas for growth in IndiaThe company has identified five priorities to work on in India which include having the right portfolio which makes the foundation of driving growth driving efficiencies driving a performance culture and a focus on RIG real internal growth led growthRIGled growth comprises volume growth which is serving more consumers every day getting into more households and pricing which includes the opportunity to premiumise the portfolio while driving affordability and value to capture consumers across the spectrum Navratil explainedNavratil further said There is plenty of opportunity on both the value and premium ends and so I think it is one of the largest priorities that we have in the groupMore exports from IndiaBesides Nestle plans to increase its export from India and making it an export hub for its other global marketsI think that we should do even more to see India as a production hub to export Were doing that already he said adding Nestle India currently exports to 30odd countries which can be more and betterSo this is definitely something we should look more to be a hub going forward And again the scale of India is you know makes sure that we invest in those factories are at capacity very fast So its a good place to invest for us he saidNestle in its global earnings had recognised the high doubledigit growth in the June quarter terming it very very strong and said it led the growth of the Asia Oceania and Africa AOA zoneWith inputs from PTI