How Nestle coped up during COVID-19

Nestle has also witnessed a rise in its in-home indulgence’ segment of products and introduced new products under MAGGI- Cooking Made Simple’ service.

“The words quality, safety, nutrition and trust have undergone sharper re-definition and consumers tend to favour tried and tested’ brands and relationships formed herein, the CMD said. There is a new word that has been added to the lexicon of consumer needs in the pandemic, which is immunity’ for self and the family, he added.

While talking about sales, Narayanan said that Nestle India is witnessing a better growth in the rural and semi-urban areas, where the market has recovered quickly after lockdown-related disruptions. Besides, the company is also witnessing a surge in sales from e-commerce channels, he said.

We have witnessed better growth in tier 2, 3, 4 cities, semi-urban areas than urban areas during the lockdown. Rural consumption continues to be stronger than urban demand. We delivered a strong performance in the e-commerce channel, said Narayanan.

Like other FMCG companies, Nestle has also witnessed a sharp decline in its Out of Home consumption channels as restrictions on several channels as restaurants, hotels, cafes etc, which form bulk of the segment, continued.

However, its in-home consumption was up and sales of Everyday Dairy Whitener, Nestl a+ Milk, another milk-based portfolio, Nescafe performed well this quarter, Narayanan said.

“Maggi also witnessed solid growth towards the end of the quarter after initial supply constraints,” he said.

According to Narayanan, now the Indian economy is showing signs of recovery after the initial impact of COVID-19 though some of the sectors were impacted more than the others.

With the easing of restrictions on economic activities, businesses are slowly getting back on track. To address these concerns in such challenging times, the Government of India has announced several measures to ensure business continuity and sectoral revival, he added.