October 2015

Interview: Nitin Ghadiyar, FMCG Industry Expert

By Naveen Kulkarni

Shares his insights on brand building and his outlook on the FMCG industry

Nitin Ghadiyar has over 35 years of experience in Leadership and Head of Company positions in leading pharmaceutical and consumer- product companies such as Colgate Palmolive, Parke-Davis, Reckitt Piramal, Johnson & Johnson, Dabur and Strides Arcolabs. He has made a significant contribution in building over 20 national brands in the FMCG and Health Care segments. He is a graduate in Economics and Statistics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and a Post Graduate Management from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, also in Mumbai, with a specialization in Marketing. He currently serves on the Board of Rasna and has provided consulting to various domestic and international firms in Health Care – OTC, FMCG, and Pharma businesses. Being an expert in brand building and brand development in the FMCG and Pharma space, Nitin is a renowned consultant in the industry known for his ability to provide out-of-the-box solutions given his experience in delivering quantum growth consistently.

Q) Patanjali and its spectacular growth to Rs 25bn turnover in such a short period is the talk of the town among FMCG companies and in the analyst circles. What is your assessment of the impact Patanjali will make on the FMCG sector and specifically ayurvedic/herbal categories in the medium term?

A) Patanjali has grown spectacularly in the last few years. While the company is present in many diverse FMCG categories such as biscuits, shampoos, toothpaste, atta, and masala, I do not see Patanjali making a significant dent on the market shares of any of the larger FMCG brands in these segments in the medium term. On the other hand, I believe that Patanjali will help the Aurvedic and Herbal space to grow and will also help accelerate the growth of Companies such as Dabur, Baidhyanath, Emami, and other regional and national companies already present in this segment. It has been very successful in attracting consumers with an inclination for yoga, meditation, and ayurvedic remedies, but I believe that the rest of the consumers, which are still in a majority, will continue to find value in popular products of leading domestic and MNC FMCG companies and will not be swayed towards Patanjali beyond an extent.

Q) In the last decade, in what way has the field of sales changed the most

One place where the sales structure and organisation
has seen change would be Modern Trade. Emergence of modern trade has led to some amount of polarisation in what you do in general trade and what you do in modern trade. In modern trade, you need to compete not only in terms of price, but also relationships. This requires special skills and you need to build a team that understands this.

Q) How would you judge the impact of social media on the way advertising is done today?

A) I feel that social-media marketing is currently applicable only for premium categories – Sec A products. It has not yet penetrated beyond these. Nevertheless, one needs to be savvy and one needs to include it in advertising spends wherever relevant. But one need not go overboard. As a matter of fact, for several FMCG brands, I would still continue with traditional methods of advertising.

Q) What is your assessment of the impact of Make in India for the FMCG industry?

A) India is a very exciting place when it comes to the consumer industry. For major Indian brands such as Dabur, GCPL, Marico and indeed the iconic Rasna, exports markets are booming. The Modi government
has recently floated a proposal that they would take the top-150 brands that are Made in India and assist in expand their global foot prints. One of the achievements of the Modi government has been to give visibility to Brand India in developed markets such as North America and various emerging markets
in Africa, Latin America etc.

Q) If you could summarise the golden rules of marketing in just four points….

1.Innovate. Think out of the box

2.Constantly seek consumer insights. The smell of the bazaar should drive strategy

3.Take prudent risks and don’t be afraid of failure. Tolerate and own failure and share and celebrate success

4.Always think quantum rather than incremental growth