Britannia to restructure its top management

MD Vinita Bali to focus on expanding the firms international operations, COO Varun Berry to head India business
Mihir Dalal

First Published: Mon, May 27 2013. 05 07 PM IST

Britannias managing director Vinita Bali will now focus on expanding the companys international operations. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Updated: Mon, May 27 2013. 08 56 PM IST Bangalore: Britannia Industries Ltd has restructured its top management for the second time in five months as it looks to aggressively expand its small international business with growth at its core biscuit business slowing. Managing director Vinita Bali will now focus on expanding the companys international operations, Britannia Nutrition Foundation and developing new business, and chief operating officer (COO) Varun Berry, who recently joined the company from PepsiCo Inc., will head its India business, Britannia said in a statement on Monday. The organizational changes will enhance Britannias position to become an all -embracing foods company from a bakery/dairy company, the maker of Good Day and Tiger biscuits said. This is a positive move. The India business is pretty much stable but their international business is currently a drag on their overall performance. Once their international subsidiaries start contributing, Britannias

performance will be totally different, said Bhaveshkumar Jain, analyst at Sushil Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. They havent been able to scale up the international business. Theres huge scope for things like cheese, cake and rusk, Jain said. The companys international business, which contributes less than 10% of the companys sales, comprises primarily of a unit in Oman and another in Dubai as well as products exported from factories in India. Britannia sells products such as biscuits, wafers, cake and rusk in the Gulf, Australia, North America as well as some African countries. The growth in Britannias international sales dropped in the year ended March 2013, according to Jains analysis of Britannias financial statements. This is the second management restructuring announced by Britannia this year. In January, the company named a new chief financial officer and said that Berry, who has 27 years of experience at companies such as PepsiCo and Hindustan Unilever Ltd, will replace Neeraj Chandra as COO. Britannia, along with other biscuit makers, is seeing a drop in volume growth of biscuits. Rising prices of biscuits over the past two years have hurt demand and the Bangalore-based company is also facing increased competition from larger rival Parle Products Ltd as well as ITC Foods. Britannias plans to expand its international operations is another step by the company to diversify its business. The company, which gets 70-75% of its sales from biscuits, has been pushing faster into other food products such as milk and cheese that offer higher margins and faster growth than biscuits. Sushil Financials Jain said that a change at the top was unlikely any time soon. Bali has a contract till 2016. Shes signed a five-year extension (in May 2011). I dont think shes going to leave anytime soon, Jain said. The stock rose 15.91% to Rs.665.85 on Monday, after strong fourth-quarter results on Friday.

Britannia Industries eyes entire food & beverages space for expansion; plans moves beyond biscuits business
BANGALORE: Britannia Industries plans aggressive moves beyond its mainstay biscuits business as its ambitions now encompass the entire world of food and beverages industry, its managing director Vinita Bali says. "Obviously, we are going to be in a business which is about things that people eat or drink," Bali said in an interview. "Anything within that, which is relevant (and) which can be differentiated, would be of interest to us," she told ET in the spacious boardroom on the second floor of the company's headquarters in Bangalore. The 56-yearold chief does not name any particular segment Britannia plans to enter, but feels that her 119-yearold brand has huge potential to grow beyond biscuits, which make fourfifths of its sales. "I agree that Rs 4,600 crore (in sales) is too little for Britannia. Therefore, we have to work even harder to grow that," she says. "But we need to grow it meaningfully, and in a manner that is profitable and sustainable." Not that the growth has been slow. Under Bali, who took charge in 2005, Britannia has been increasing sales by an average 22% a year. And since French dairy company Danone exited to

give Nusli Wadia a majority stake in 2009, Britannia has been trying to put its brand appeal to greater use by foraying into dairy, baked snacks and ready-to-cook breakfast segments. In March last year, it came up with Treat Choco Decker, a product that straddles both the biscuit and chocolate domains. In January, it launched its 'Healthy Start' range of ready-to-cook breakfast foods. In the coming days, Britannia will launch gourmet cheese, adding a new product to its dairy business, which accounts for about 5% of its sales. But Britannia has been pretty cautious in its forays. It has tiptoed into specialty breads and retail with the acquisition of Daily Bread in 2009, which remains confined largely to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Goa. Its 'Healthy Start' range is still being piloted in Mumbai while baked snack Time Pass is being tested in Bangalore. One reason for this could be that while Britannia's sales growth has been rapid, its profit margins have struggled in the single digits. And this weighs on Bali's mind. "Profit margins have to be better. That is very much part of our responsibility and part of what we are addressing through the way we manage costs, revenue and innovations," she says. Foraying into newer businesses would mean more rivals . So long, Britannia has had two main rivals - biscuits market leader Parle Products and ITC Foods. But in a wider foods market, it will be rubbing up against global giants such as Kraft, Pepsi and Kellogg. Bali is unperturbed. "Competition is a fact of life, whether I'm selling a sewing machine or a washing machine," she says. "We are in business knowing that there are today's competitors and tomorrow's competitors and knowing that competition actually keeps us on our toes." The dairy business is an area where the company is particularly ambitious. Under dairy business head Vinod Menon, it has doubled sales in four years and expects to grow in "high double digits". Recent dairy products launches include milk-based health drink Actimind and Tiger Zor flavoured milk. "As we go away from commodity milk, we get more insulated from the basic cost of milk, provided the consumer has relevance for the product. That is where we want to invest our time, energy and money," says Menon.

Britannia Industries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Britannia Industries Limited

Type

Public (BSE: 500825 NSE: BRITANNIA)

Industry

Food processing

Founded

1892

Headquarters

Kolkata, West Bengal/ Bangalore (Karnataka), India

Number of locations

300 stores (2000)

Area served

India

Key people

Nusli Wadia, (Chairman) Vinita Bali, (MD)

Products

Bakery products, includingbiscuits, bread, cakes and rusk, and dairy products, including milk, butter, cheese, ghee and dahi

Revenue

46.70 billion(US$750 million) (2011)[1]

Profit

1.34 billion (US$21 million) (2011)[1]

Parent

Wadia Group

Website

www.britannia.co.in

Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian food-products corporation based in Kolkata,[2]India. It sells its Britannia and Tiger brands of biscuit throughout India. Britannia has an estimated 38% market share.[3] The Company's principal activity is the manufacture and sale of biscuits, bread, rusk, cakes and dairy products.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

1.1 The 'Biscuit King'

1.2 Wadia and Danone

2 Growth and profitability 3 Business

3.1 Dairy products

3.1.1 Joint venture with New Zealand Dairy

3.2 Biscuits

4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History[edit]
The company was established in 1892, with an investment of Rs.295.[4] Initially, biscuits were manufactured in a small house in central Kolkata. Later, the enterprise was acquired by the Gupta brothers mainly Nalin Chandra Gupta, a renowned attorney,and operated under the name of "V.S. Brothers." In 1918, C.H. Holmes, an English businessman inKolkata, was taken on as a partner and The Britannia Biscuit Company Limited (BBCo) was launched. The Mumbai factory was set up in 1924 and Peek Freans UK, acquired a controlling interest in BBCo. Biscuits were in big demand during World War II, which gave a boost to the companys sales. The company name finally was changed to the current "Britannia Industries Limited" in 1979. In 1982 the American company Nabisco Brands, Inc. became a major foreign shareholder.

The 'Biscuit King'[edit]

Kerala businessman Rajan Pillai secured control of the group in the late 1980s, becoming known in India as the 'Biscuit King'.[5] In 1993, the Wadia Group acquired a stake in Associated Biscuits International (ABIL), and became an equal partner with Groupe Danonein Britannia Industries Limited. In what The Economic Times referred to as one of [India's] most dramatic corporate sagas,[6] Pillai ceded control to Wadia and Danone after a bitter boardroom struggle,[7] then fled his Singapore base to India in 1995 after accusations of defrauding Britannia, and died the same year in Tihar Jail.[8]

Wadia and Danone[edit]

The Wadias' Kalabakan Investments and Groupe Danone had two equal joint venture companies, Wadia BSN and UK registered Associated Biscuits International Holdings Ltd., which together held a 51 per cent stake in Britannia.[9] The ABIH tranche was acquired in 1992, while the controlling stake held by Wadia BSN was acquired in 1995. It was agreed that, in case of a deadlock between the partners, Danone was obliged to buy the Wadia BSN stake at a "fair market value". ABIH had a separate agreement signed in 1992 and was subject to British law.[9][10]

Wadia was to be Danone's wife's partner in the food and dairy business, and product launches from Groupe Danones were expected but never materialised despite the JV being in existence for over 11 years in India.[9] Under the 1995 joint venture agreement, Danone is prohibited from launching food brands within India without the consent of the Wadias.[11] In addition, the partners agreed there would be the right of first refusal to buy out the remaining partner in the event of the other wishing to sell its holding.[12] In May 2007, Nusli Wadia told the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that Danone invested in a Bangalorebased bio nutrition company, Avesthagen, in October 2006 in violation of the government's Press Note 1, 2005, which requires a foreign company to obtain the consent of its Indian joint venture partner before pursuing an independent business in a similar area, including joint ventures based purely on technical collaboration. Danone argued that Press Note 1 did not apply to it as it did not have a formal technology transfer or trademark agreement with Avesthagen, and that its 25% holding in Britannia was indirect.[13] Wadia also filed a case in the Bombay High Court for a breach of a non-competition clause in that connection. The court ordered Danone not to alienate, encumber or sell shares of Avestagen.[14] In September 2007, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India rejected Danone's claims that it did not need a non-compete waiver from the Wadias to enter into business in India alone.[15] In June 2006, Wadia claimed Danone had used the Tiger brand to launch biscuits in Bangalore. [12] After a prolonged legal battle, Danone agreed to sell its 25.48% stake in Britannia to Leila Lands, which is a Wadia group entity based in Mauritius, and quit this line of business. The deal was valued at $175200 m. With this buy-out, Wadia holds a majority stake of 50.96%.[16]

Growth and profitability[edit]

Between 1998 and 2001, the company's sales grew at a compound annual rate of 16% against the market, and operating profits reached 18%[citation needed]. More recently, the company has been growing at 27% a year, compared to the industry's growth rate of 20%[citation needed]. At present, 90% of Britannias annual revenue of Rs22 billion comes from biscuits. Britannia is one of India's 100 Most Trusted brands listed in The Brand Trust Report.[17]

Business[edit]
Dairy products[edit]
Dairy products contribute close to 10 per cent to Britannia's revenue.[18] Britannia trades and markets dairy products, and its dairy portfolio grew to 47% in 2000-01 and by 30% in 2001-02. Britannia holds an equity stake in Dynamix Dairy and outsources the bulk of its dairy products from its associate. Its main competitors are Nestl India, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and Amul(GCMMF).[19]

Joint venture with New Zealand Dairy[edit]

On 27 October 2001, Britannia announced a joint venture with Fonterra Co-operative Group of New Zealand, an integrated dairy company from procurement of milk to making value-added products such as cheese and buttermilk.[19] Britannia planned to source most of the products from New Zealand, which they would market in India.[18] The joint venture will allow technology transfer to Britannia.[19] Britannia and New Zealand Dairy each holding 49% of the JV, and the remaining 2 per cent held by a strategic investor. Britannia has also tentatively announced that its dairy business would be transferred and run by the joint venture.[19] The authorities' approval to the joint venture obliged the company to start manufacturing facilities of its own. It would not be allowed to trade, except at the wholesale level, thus pitching it in competition with Danone, which had recently established its own dairy business.[19]

Biscuits[edit]

Britannia Little Hearts

The company's factories have an annual capacity of 433,000 tonnes.[3] The brand names of biscuits include VitaMarieGold, Tiger, Nutrichoice Junior,Good day, 50 50, Treat, Pure Magic, Milk Bikis, Good Morning, Bourbon, Thin Arrowroot, Nice, Little Hearts and many more. Tiger, the mass market brand, realised $150.75 million in sales including exports to countries including the U.S. and Australia, or 20% of Britannia revenues in 2006. In a separate dispute from the shareholder matters, the company alleged in 2006 that Danone had violated its intellectual property rights in the Tiger brand by registering and using Tiger in several countries without its consent. Britannia claimed the company found out that Danone had launched the Tiger brand in Indonesia in 1998, and later in Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and Egypt, when it attempted to register the Tiger trademark in some of these countries in 2004.[20] Whilst it was initially reported in December 2006 that agreement had been reached,[21] it was reported in September 2007 that a solution remained elusive.[20] In the meantime

since Danone's biscuit business has been taken over by Kraft, the Tiger brand of biscuits in Malaysia was renamed Kraft Tiger Biscuits in September 2008. Britannia initiated legal action against Danone in Singapore in September 2007.[22] The dispute was resolved in 2009 with Britanniasecuring rights to the Tiger brand worldwide, and Danone paying Rs220 million to utilise the brand.[23]

GROWTH STRATEGY
Bangalore: In less than four months after becoming Britannia Industries Ltds de facto head, Varun Berry has started making key operational changes and strategic tweaks as the biscuit maker looks to increase its market share and improve margins, which have slumped over the past few years because of a sustained rise in material costs.
Britannia surprised investors and analysts in May by naming Berrywho joined as chief operating officer

(COO) only in Januaryas the head of the companys India business, which accounts for over 90% of its sales. It said then that Vinita Bali, its managing director for over eight years, would look after the fledgling global business. However, Berry still holds the title of COO. The task ahead for Berry is enormous as increasing market share and boosting margins are not goals that usually complement each other. Increasing market share will be tough for Britannia at a time when volume growth for biscuit makers has dropped to 5-7%the lowest in over a decadefrom over 10%. Britannia is also facing increased competition from Parle and Sunfeast maker ITC Ltd as well as several hundred regional firms. For achieving his other goal, Berry cant afford to raise prices because of the risk of losing customers to rivals. Bigger rival Parle has already increased its promotional expenditure this year and has held prices despite an increase in oil costs. On an immediate basis, Berry has made increasing the companys 30-33% biscuit market share his top objective and has identified fixing kinks in Britannias sales and distribution as his top priority, a ccording to two people aware of the plans. Both declined to be named. Britannia did not respond to an emailed questionnaire. Britannia, which also sells curd, flavoured milk, cheese, bread, cake and rusk, has begun to separate its distribution channels for the biscuit and dairy businesses. The company already has different sales teams for the two businesses in some cities and is likely to implement the change in other parts of the country in the near future.

Britannia will not sacrifice market share. Its not like profit is not important but the managements view is that if you have market share, profits will follow. In this volatile economic and cost environment, you need to have shorter lead times and you need to be competitive in the market. Price increases will slow growth, so the company will hold prices for now, said one of the two people, who has direct knowledge of the developments. Berry says that separating the companys distribution channels will bring sharper focus among his sales executives, lead to better relationships with retailers and distributors, and possibly cut lead times in getting products to the market, this person said. The company is not looking at dramatic changes in strategy but there are tweaks required and, operationally, theres a lot of room to improve. The top focus currently is distribution. Britannias efficiency and execution in distribution has slipped a bit and it needs to get that back, this person said. Britannia is also looking to cut the number of its biscuit brands and some pack sizes as well. Over the past few years, the company launched a few labels such as Nutri Choice and numerous extensions of its existing brands, but failed to introduce a product that swept the market. Some of the other changes Berry is implementing include developing a new strategy for the companys Rs.1,500 crore dairy business, installing a scientific demand forecasting system and streamlining the management structure by giving more functions to senior management executives, according to the two people cited above. In dairy, the company doesnt have a clear strategy yet and its a category where strategy is crucial. Soon therell be a lot of competition with multinationals sure to come in. Before that, the company needs a clear blueprint on what the dairy portfolio and strategy is going to look like, the first person said. Berry discussed some of these changes in Mumbai in late August at his first meeting with financial analysts. The management reshuffle in May, the firms second in five months, was driven by promoter Nusli Wadiawho was unhappy with the slump in Britannias margins among other things. The firms Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins fell to less than 6% last year from 9% five years ago mostly due to a sustained rise in material costs. Berry has regular phone conversations with Wadia to give him business updates and reviews and meets with him once every 45 days or so, according to the first person cited above. The promoters are not intrusive and its clear they dont want to run the company, but they do want regular updates, this person said. Berry is under a lot of pressure to cut costs, said the second person familiar with the developments. Whether he can deliver will be one of the key factors in deciding if he gets the top job or not. Remember, while he has operational control, his title is still that of COO, this person said. To cut costs, Britannia is increasing the use of biomass, a cheaper alternative than traditional fuels, and has identified other measures to save energy such as developing improved baking ovens that lead to reduced

emission of heat, the first person cited above said. Theuseof biomass at Britannia factories was initiated by Bali. Britannia has hired a baking technology expert, who is reporting directly to Berry, to make its manufacturing more efficient, another person with direct knowledge of the matter said. A lot of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies including HUL (Hindustan Unilever Ltd) are investing in technology to drive manufacturing efficiencies. As companies increase in size, technology is likely to be key for them to gain the highest possible economies of scale, said Harminder Sahni, managing director at consultancy Wazir Advisors. Berry took over the India operations from Bali who led the company for over eight years starting from January 2005. Bali, a former Coca-Cola Co. executive, stabilized the ship at Britannia amid the turmoil surrounding Sunil
Alaghs removal as the companys CEO. She accelerated the companys sales growth, strengthened

Britannias brand image, launched fast-growing health food products, built a strong bench of mid- and seniorlevel leaders and put in place some cost-saving initiatives that Berry is now likely to benefit from. One criticism of Bali, a widely respected corporate leader who sits on the boards of companies including Titan
Co. Ltd, was that Britannia was unable to launch a market sweeping product such as Good Day orMarie during

her tenure. Both are Britannia brands. The two people familiar with the plans confirmed that product innovation is not among Berrys immediate priorities, but is a longer-term goal. There wont be anything coming up in the next six months, only after that. The aim is not to go for an incremental kind of product, the aim is to come up with a disruptive product that will change the market. Britannia wants to have 8-10 products in the pipeline that arent there in the market and even if one of them works, the goal wouldve been achieved, the first person said.

Management changes
Britannia has announced two rounds of management restructuring this year, and seven senior and mid-level management executives have left the company. Chief information officer Syed Hussain and Anand Ramchandranbusiness operations directorare the latest executives to quit the company, following former COO Neeraj Chandra and Sreekanth Arimanithaya, head of human resources, said two people with knowledge of the matter, including the second person cited earlier. Mint couldnt reach all the executives for comment. Britannia is looking to hire a new human resources head and has given the role to an internal candidate, Ritesh
Rana, a mid-level human resources executive, till it finalizes the appointment, the people said.

Attrition at the senior level usually is obviously not good for any company, but when theres a new leader, the effects of attrition depend on the amount of change that the (executive) wants to drive. For instance, if he is

trying to bring a dramatic change in operations and strategy, then attrition may not be a bad thing because you require different skill sets, said Rishikesha Krishnan, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Britannia shares have risen nearly 31% since late May when the company reported better-than-expected results for the March quarter and reshuffled its management for the second time. With the cost of inputs such as wheat finally stabilizing, investors and analysts are betting Britannia will continue to deliver strong results. Investors are expecting Britannias premiumization (higher sales of pricier biscuits) to accelerate and the costefficiency measures to show results. Crucially, Berry will be helped a lot as material costs are likely to be stable this year, said Bhaveshkumar Jain, an analyst at Sushil Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.

growth strategy
Definition
Strategy aimed at winning larger market share, even at the expense of short-term earnings. Four broad growth strategies are diversification, product development, market penetration, and market development.

What Do You Mean growth Strategy?

Many entrepreneurs love technology, love programming, and love product development. They do not love strategy. Strategy is often seen in a negative light: fluffy slide-ware that is developed in the ivory tower of large corporates. This mindset is often apparent in investor pitch decks as well. These tend to show a well-articulated problem, many screenshots of the great product that is solving the problem, and the well-known hockey-stick graph that shows exponential growth in users, revenue, etc. That hockey-stick growth chart looks great, but really, what are you going to do to get there? What are your actions? In other words: what is your strategy? The answer to these questions is often missing from business plans and pitch decks. Here is a thought: strategy does not need to be fluffy at all. Rather, it can be very tangible in the form of Go to Market strategies, the engines for growth that you can leverage, and clearly formulated activities to grow your business. Hence, building on my previous post on business model economics, this blog talks about the importance of strategy for entrepreneurs. What I am advocating is a more focused, targeted approach to strategy. One that is data-driven and leverages a deeper understanding of the underlying business model economics of your startup. This allows you to develop specific, targeted strategies to influence the key drivers and metrics that influence your business performance. Lets look at an example from a fast growing startup in Singapore, DropMyEmail. This company offers a very comprehensive email backup solution in the Cloud. As a very fast growing startup

in Asia, Dropmyemail backs up emails, databases, websites and much more in the near future (chats, calendars, contacts, etc). When growing their business, Dropmyemail takes a very data-driven approach. They know the key metrics that drive their business and work in a targeted fashion to move those metrics in the right direction. This requires a clear strategy with specific actions, as shown below:

5 Important Keys to a Successful Business Growth Strategy

Published November 21, 2011 | By Ken Davidson

The key to a successful business growth strategygreatly depends on your patience and discipline. Most entrepreneurs are driven, ambitious and prepared to take on the world in the midst of building their startup. Setting your goals high is important, but sometimes we all tend to get ahead of ourselves and forget to lay the foundation for steady, healthy growth. Building a multi-million dollar empire is a great goal but make sure you have it planned out every step of the way.

1. Why are you in business?

Its one thing to decide to go into business but you must know why you are doing it. What is the purpose? Im involved in real estate investing, but why am I in real estate investing? Its not because I want to own an apartment complex and have tenants. Its because I have a passion for real estate and I believe in it as an investment tool. Plus I want to build enough wealth to take care of my family and retire comfortably. You must know your purpose for being in business. Your business growth strategy starts with what you want.

2. Set a goal
When making the decision to go into business you must figure out your why and then start writing down your goals. Not enough people physically write down what they want to achieve in their business, and end up flying by the seat of their pants. It really is key that you write down what your goals are. I always say if your purpose in business is to create a wage for yourself, there is nothing wrong with that. I have many clients that I advise when they are looking to buy or start a business and I always start with asking them why they want to do it.

Well, I needed a job. So you paid $400,000 so you could buy yourself a job to make $40,000 a year and work 7 days a week, 365 days a year? Is that what you wanted? If it is, there is nothing wrong with that as long as it is what you truly want. We, as advisors, have to be very careful about what we put in peoples minds because we can easily put our own goals in front of our clients minds a lot of times. As advisors, we have to be very careful to back away from that. My goal might be to help you make $500,000, $600,000 or a million dollars a year but if your goal is to feed the children of the world and with no attention to financial gain, that is your choice.

3. Build a Team
Not only do you need a team of advisors to be successful in business but you also need to make sure that its a good team. Unfortunately, you cant rely on bar room buddies to be your team. If youre trying to be successful in business, make sure you have advisors, mentors and consultants on your team that are helping you achieve success. Some of them might be paid, some of them could just be trusted mentors it doesnt matter. You have to know who to use and who to rely on for advice because the wrong decisions can be VERY costly.

4. Know Your Competition

You need to know your competition and understand what is going to make you unique. Why are people going to buy your product instead of your competition? What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Invest the necessary amount of time to research your market and position yourself for success. You can learn from the mistakes of your competition and leverage it in your business growth strategy.

5. Start Small & Grow

Financing is important but come up with your plan first. If your plan is good and solid, the money will follow. The problem I see is a lot of people come up with plans that are too personal and dont reflect reality and then they wonder why no one is throwing money at them to make their personal goal come to reality. You have to be realistic. For example, if you want to become a real estate investor and have no money, then your first project probably shouldnt be a 4 million dollar apartment complex. You might want to start a bit smaller with some friends and family to build some rapport before you go out and try to eat the elephant. Remember, your business growth strategy requires your patience and discipline for long-term success.

Although Im tempted to reference the famous line from Aeseops The Tortise & The Hare, Ill resist and ask you a question instead. What business growth strategy could you see making a big impact in your business? Share in the comments below.

Last 5 posts in Business Growth

7 Morning Rituals That Make Me A Better Entrepreneur - January 29th, 2014 This CEOs Reason For Stepping Down Will Surprise You - January 15th, 2014 How I Left My Business For A Month & Made It Stronger - January 7th, 2014 How WestJet Taught Us Going Bigger Can Save Money - January 2nd, 2014 Are You Risky Enough? Finding Your Risk Tolerance In Business - December 16th, 2013

The importance of business growth

Your business' focus changes as it moves beyond the start-up phase. Identifying opportunities for growth becomes a priority to ensure the enterprise's sustainability. You can measure growth by looking at key statistics such as your: turnover market share profits sales staff numbers However, determining which measure delivers the most accurate picture of your business' performance depends on both your type of business and what stage it has reached. For example, a retail business may have a high sales volume, but narrow margins on stock. These could mean low profits that undermine the business' viability. In general, a combination of sales and profits is the balanced way of measuring growth. Where to begin Even if you're happy with your current performance, it's important to keep looking for ways to develop. If you don't, you risk allowing your competitors the room to grow and take market share from you, which could seriously weaken your position. Going for growth may therefore begin by consolidating your current markets. For more information, see the page in this guide on how to consolidate your existing performance. To devise a successful growth strategy, you need to know exactly what shape your business is in now. Read our guide on how to measure performance and set targets. This will help ensure your business is properly structured and resourced to make your growth strategy viable. - See more at: http://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/importance-business-growth#sthash.DA7S2E0I.dpuf

REASONS OF GROWTH STRATEGY Many people think mergers and acquisitions are for the big boys with the big money. But entrepreneurs who grow their businesses through successful mergers are reaping the benefits, and heres why. 1. Capital, cash and credit

How are you going to scale your business in todays challenging economy? Its getting harder and harder to obtain lines of credit and loans from banking institutions. The U.S. Small Business Administrations Office of Advocacy reported that bank lending to small businesses fell by $15 billion in the first quarter of 2011. Merging can make your company more valuable, putting you first in line for rounds of financing. Richard Levychin, CPA and partner at KBL, LLP, a firm that has advised on many mergers (including reverse mergers, where private companies go public), says, The formula for a successful merger should be 1+1 = 3, 4 or 5. An ideal merger increases revenue, reduces overhead and redundancies, enables the company to attract more capital and increases the value of the owners equity in the company." 2. Customers Peter Drucker once said, The purpose of business is to create a customer. I say the purpose of a merger is to create a more satisfied customer. Combining customer lists is the first step. The work continues with an assessment of how the merged company plans to build deeper relationships by passing down the benefits created by the merger. Ask yourself during the merger process, How does my customer win? If you can point to more customer service offerings, better pricing, innovative products and an improvement to the customer experience, then your merger makes sense. 3. Management talent and experts Merging presents the opportunity to team up with experts who bring their vision, management and technical know-how to the table. The ability to leverage management capabilities is a skill and an asset. When Corey Kupfer and Brian Hamburger merged their law firms to create Hamburger Law Firm, LLC, two rainmakers with decades of M&A and corporate experience were tasked with operating on themselves. Kupfer credits the success of the merger to a cultural fit, shared vision and values and complimentary persona lities and leadership styles. The two entrepreneurs play well off each other, and as a result, are free to focus on their areas of strength. In a successful merger, you should ideally never have to look back at the merger documents, says Kupfer. A merger is a business partnership that thrives because of the ongoing synergy of the team. 4. New markets Merging with another company provides the opportunity to increase market share and expand into new geographies and sectors. Suveen Sahib, Group COO and CEO, Americas of EBS Worldwide, a marketing and technology company, merged his company that had a premerger value of $7 million to create a company valued at $15 million. Sahib says, EBS Worldwide started in India and now has a footprint in the U.S., allowing for its global clients to benefit from our strong position in these regions and our large suite of services. 5. Product development

Joining forces with another enterprise can create innovation in manufacturing, distribution, design and research and development. Before the EBS Worldwide merger, the company offered two service lines. Now they offer five service lines. Before the Hamburger merger, regulatory, compliance and securities clients were going elsewhere for M&A services. Now these clients can benefit from Hamburgers M&A capacity. Merging smaller companies is just as difficult as managing the union of larger ones. Merging results in the combination of assets and liabilities, so your due diligence process is the time to kick the tires and work with outside experts to discover and detect business information valuable for your decision. Michael Carter, president & CEO of BizEquity, created an online company valuation resource that enables entrepreneurs to understand what their businesses are worth prior to beginning merger discussions. Get educated, get positioned and get connected before going down the M&A path, says Carter. In every analytical exercise, one can point to benefits and risks. In my experience, getting beneficial business results via merger depends on a combination of brains, guts and heartqualities already inherent in todays entrepreneur. Some recommended resources: Anatomy of a Merger: Strategies and Techniques for Negotiating Corporate Acquisitions by James C. Freund Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William L. Ury The Art of M&A: A Merger Acquisition Buyout Guide by Stanley Foster Reed and Alexandra Reed Lajoux OPEN Cardmember Nicole Valentine, Esq. is the president & chief strategy officer of Synergy Business Development, a strategy company focused on growth opportunities for entrepreneurs, providing advisory services in the areas of joint ventures, strategic partnerships and business development. TYPES OF GROWTH STRATEGY

You need a growth strategy to increase the value of your business. Examining generic growth strategies is a good start because they apply to all types of businesses, focusing on one aspect of your operations and specifying the actions you must take to achieve your goals. Once you understand the generic growth strategies, you can customize the right plan for your company and your objectives.

New Markets
An effective idea for growth is entering new markets. If you have access to more customers, you can sell more products. You can target new markets by opening additional retail locations, adding an online presence, selling internationally or reaching new types of customers. In each case, you have to define the segments of the new markets you intend to target, identify the needs of the potential customers as they relate to what you are selling, promote your products to them and make it convenient for them to buy your products.

New Products
Another way to increase business volume is to focus on your products. If you have many different products for sale, you can increase total sales. Sales growth is based on a broadening of your product lines and on product diversification. Broadening a line means you can offer related products to each customer. Product diversification lets you offer different products to different customers, depending on customer preferences and characteristics. Related Reading: What Are the Four Major Types of Competitive Strategies?

Acquisition
Sometimes the fastest way to gain new markets or diversify your product range is to buy a company that competes with you or is active in a related field. Company acquisition is risky because it means making a large investment; the benefits depend on how well you can integrate the new business into your own operations. It can be an effective growth strategy if your acquisition target occupies the markets into which you want to diversify.

Merger
An equally risky but less costly growth strategy is a merger with a related or competing business. Ideally, the merger takes place between companies that bring equal value to the table and results in a larger, more competitive business that has the potential for improved performance. The lower financial cost of a merger comes with a corresponding loss of control: You share ownership with others after a merger.

Partnership
A growth strategy based on entering into partnerships with qualified companies brings with it the advantages of a merger or acquisition without the high cost or loss of control. You might partner with a foreign distributor to access the market where he is based or partner with a company making accessories for your own products. The partnership agreement specifies the areas where you intend to cooperate, for example, in a promotional campaign or shared sales channels. While the risks and costs are lower, partnership also means you have to share the benefits.
.

TYPES OF GROWTH STRARTEGY Business growth is an imperative for the survival of any company, because customers tastes change and products become obsolete. At the same time, competitors constantly attack the market share rivals with better products and services. Many big companies started small and grew to a more robust size by initiating appropriate strategies and building on opportunities. Small-business managers need to adopt an appropriate growth strategy based on the circumstances of their businesses. Managers rely on internal strategies, external strategies or a combination of these to increase their sales volume or production capacity.

Internal Vs. External Strategies

Business growth strategies come in two types: internal and external. Internal, or organic, growth strategies rely on the company's own resources by reinvesting some of the profits. Internal growth is planned and slow. In an external growth strategy, the company draws on the resources of other companies to leverage its resources.

Market Investment
A range of internal growth strategies revolve around expanding market share. In a market penetration strategy, the company tries to sell more to its existing markets by improving product quality or lowering prices. Alternatively, the product development strategy involves developing new products to sell in existing markets of the company. The other strategy is market development, in which the company invests in marketing efforts to sell existing products in new markets. Finally, a riskier strategy is diversification that requires selling new product in new markets. Related Reading: What Are the Different Ways for an Organization to Formulate a Growth Strategy?

Mergers
A merger is an external business growth strategy that occurs in two ways: takeover and amalgamation. In a takeover or acquisition, a company buys a majority stake in the other company and takes over control. In amalgamation, two or more companies join forces to form a single entity. Achieving economies of scale, entering new lines of business and accessing scarce raw materials are some of the reasons why companies join forces.

Joint Ventures
A joint venture is an external business growth strategy. In a joint venture, two or more companies decide to establish a new business enterprise to exploit a specific business opportunity. A joint venture is a quick and efficient way to exploit a business opportunity. A small business may not be able to secure enough resources to enter a new market or develop a new product or service. Additionally, a joint venture is a desirable strategy to share the risks of starting a new enterprise to enter a new market.

Business Strategies: Internal Growth and External Growth Strategies

Growth Strategy refers to a strategic plan formulated and implemented for expanding firms business. Every firm has to develop its own growth strategy according to its own characteristics and environment.

Internal growth strategy refers to the growth within the organisation by using internal resources. Internal growth strategy focus on developing new products, increasing efficiency, hiring the right people, better marketing

etc. Internal growth strategy can take place either by expansion, diversification and modernisation.

I. Internal Growth Strategies

A. Expansion: Business expansion refers to raising the market share, sales revenue and profit of the present product or services. The business can be expanded through product development, market development, expanding the line of product etc. Expansion leads to better utilisation of the resources and to face the competition efficiently. Business expansion provides economics of largescale operations. Business can be expanded through:a. Market penetration strategy: This strategy involves selling existing products to existing markets. To penetrate and capture the market, a firm may cut prices, improve distribution network, increase promotional activities etc. b. Market Development strategy: This strategy involves extending existing products to new market. This strategy aims at reaching new customer segments or expansion into new geographic areas. Market development aims to increase sales by capturing new market area. c. Product Development strategy: This strategy involves developing new products for existing markets or for new markets. Product development means making some modifications in the existing product to give value to the customers for their purchase. B. Diversification:

Diversification is another form of internal growth strategy. The purpose of diversification is to allow the company to enter new lines of business that are different from current operations. There are four types of diversification: a) Vertical diversification b) Horizontal diversification c) Concentric diversification d) Conglomerate diversification a) Vertical Diversification Vertical diversification is also called as vertical integration. In vertical integration new products or services are added which are complementary to the present product line or service. The purpose of vertical diversification is to improve economic and marketing ability of the firm. Vertical diversification includes: i. Backward integration: In backward integration, the company expands its business activities in such a way that it moves backward of its present line of business. Example: Despite of being the leaders in Textiles, to strengthen his Position, Dhirubhai Ambani decided to integrate backwards and produce fibres. ii. Forward integration: In forward integration, the company expands its activities in such a way that it moves ahead of its present line of business. Example:

New Zealand based Natural health care products company Comvita purchased its Hong Kong distributor Green Life Ltd. And thus achieved forward integration by having access to greenlifes retail stores, sales staff and in store promoters. b) Horizontal Diversification: Horizontal diversification involves addition of parallel products to the existing product line. For example: A company, manufacturing refrigerator may enter into manufacturing air conditioners. The purpose of horizontal diversification is to expand market area and to cut down competition. c) Concentric diversification: When a firm diversifies into business, which is related with its present business it is called concentric diversification. It is an extreme form of horizontal diversification. For example: Car dealer may start a finance company to finance hire purchase of cars. d) Conglomerate diversification: When a firm diversifies into business, which is not related to its existing business both in terms of marketing and technology it is called conglomerate diversification. It involves totally a new area of business. There is no relation between the new product and the existing product.

II. External Growth Strategies:

Foreign Collaboration: Collaboration means cooperation. It means coming together. Collaboration is the act of working jointly. It is a process where two people or organisation comes together for the achievement of common goal. With the advent of globalisation, foreign trade and foreign investments are encouraged to increase the volume of trade. This concept gave rise to

foreign collaboration to acquire expertise in the manufacturing process, gain technical know-how and market or promote the products or services to the foreign countries. Foreign collaboration is an agreement or contract between companies or government of domestic country and foreign country to achieve a common objective. Foreign collaboration is a business structure formed by two or more parties for a specific purpose. It is collaboration where the domestic firm and the foreign firm join hands together to achieve a common goal. Foreign collaboration helps in removing financial, technological and managerial gap in the developing countries. It is recognised as an important supplement for development of the country and for securing scientific and technical know-how. Definition: Foreign Collaboration may be defined as An agreement between two companies from two different countries for mutual help, co-operation and also for sharing the benefits in common.
B Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian food-products corporation based in Kolkata,[2]India. It sells
its Britannia and Tiger brands of biscuit throughout India. Britannia has an estimated 38% market share.
[3]

The Company's principal activity is the manufacture and sale of biscuits, bread, rusk, cakes and dairy products.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

o o

1.1 The 'Biscuit King' 1.2 Wadia and Danone

2 Growth and profitability 3 Business

3.1 Dairy products

3.1.1 Joint venture with New Zealand Dairy

3.2 Biscuits

4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History[edit]
The company was established in 1892, with an investment of Rs.295. Initially, biscuits were manufactured in a small house in central Kolkata. Later, the enterprise was acquired by the Gupta brothers mainly Nalin Chandra Gupta, a renowned attorney,and operated under the name of "V.S. Brothers." In 1918, C.H. Holmes, an English businessman inKolkata, was taken on as a partner and The Britannia Biscuit Company Limited (BBCo) was launched. The Mumbai factory was set up in 1924 and Peek Freans UK, acquired a controlling interest in BBCo. Biscuits were in big demand during World War II, which gave a boost to the companys sales. The company name finally was changed to the current "Britannia Industries Limited" in 1979. In 1982 the American company Nabisco Brands, Inc. became a major foreign shareholder.
[4]

The 'Biscuit King'[edit]

Kerala businessman Rajan Pillai secured control of the group in the late 1980s, becoming known in India as the [5] 'Biscuit King'. In 1993, the Wadia Group acquired a stake in Associated Biscuits International (ABIL), and became an equal partner with Groupe Danonein Britannia Industries Limited. In what The Economic Times referred to as one of [India's] most dramatic corporate sagas, Pillai ceded control to [7] Wadia and Danone after a bitter boardroom struggle, then fled his Singapore base to India in 1995 after [8] accusations of defrauding Britannia, and died the same year in Tihar Jail.
[6]

Wadia and Danone[edit]

The Wadias' Kalabakan Investments and Groupe Danone had two equal joint venture companies, Wadia BSN and UK registered Associated Biscuits International Holdings Ltd., which together held a 51 per cent stake in [9] Britannia. The ABIH tranche was acquired in 1992, while the controlling stake held by Wadia BSN was acquired in 1995. It was agreed that, in case of a deadlock between the partners, Danone was obliged to buy the Wadia BSN [9][10] stake at a "fair market value". ABIH had a separate agreement signed in 1992 and was subject to British law. Wadia was to be Danone's wife's partner in the food and dairy business, and product launches from Groupe [9] Danones were expected but never materialised despite the JV being in existence for over 11 years in India. Under the 1995 joint venture agreement, Danone is prohibited from launching food brands within India without the consent [11] of the Wadias. In addition, the partners agreed there would be the right of first refusal to buy out the remaining [12] partner in the event of the other wishing to sell its holding. In May 2007, Nusli Wadia told the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that Danone invested in a Bangalore-based bio nutrition company, Avesthagen, in October 2006 in violation of the government's Press Note 1, 2005, which requires a foreign company to obtain the consent of its Indian joint venture partner before pursuing an independent business in a similar area, including joint ventures based purely on technical collaboration. Danone argued that Press Note 1 did not apply to it as it did not have a formal technology transfer or trademark agreement with Avesthagen, and that [13] its 25% holding in Britannia was indirect. Wadia also filed a case in the Bombay High Court for a breach of a noncompetition clause in that connection. The court ordered Danone not to alienate, encumber or sell shares of [14] Avestagen. In September 2007, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India rejected Danone's claims that it did not need a [15] non-compete waiver from the Wadias to enter into business in India alone. In June 2006, Wadia claimed Danone had used the Tiger brand to launch biscuits in Bangalore.
[12]

After a prolonged legal battle, Danone agreed to sell its 25.48% stake in Britannia to Leila Lands, which is a Wadia group entity based in Mauritius, and quit this line of business. The deal was valued at $175200 m. With this buy-out, [16] Wadia holds a majority stake of 50.96%.

Growth and profitability[edit]

Between 1998 and 2001, the company's sales grew at a compound annual rate of 16% against the market, and [citation needed] operating profits reached 18% . More recently, the company has been growing at 27% a year, compared to [citation needed] the industry's growth rate of 20% . At present, 90% of Britannias annual revenue of Rs22 billion comes from biscuits. Britannia is one of India's 100 Most Trusted brands listed in The Brand Trust Report.
[17]

Business[edit]
Dairy products[edit]
Dairy products contribute close to 10 per cent to Britannia's revenue. Britannia trades and markets dairy products, and its dairy portfolio grew to 47% in 2000-01 and by 30% in 2001-02. Britannia holds an equity stake in Dynamix Dairy and outsources the bulk of its dairy products from its associate. Its main competitors are Nestl India, [19] the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and Amul(GCMMF).
[18]

Joint venture with New Zealand Dairy[edit]

On 27 October 2001, Britannia announced a joint venture with Fonterra Co-operative Group of New Zealand, an integrated dairy company from procurement of milk to making value-added products such as cheese and [19] buttermilk. Britannia planned to source most of the products from New Zealand, which they would market in [18] [19] India. The joint venture will allow technology transfer to Britannia. Britannia and New Zealand Dairy each holding 49% of the JV, and the remaining 2 per cent held by a strategic investor. Britannia has also tentatively announced [19] that its dairy business would be transferred and run by the joint venture. The authorities' approval to the joint venture obliged the company to start manufacturing facilities of its own. It would not be allowed to trade, except at the wholesale level, thus pitching it in competition with Danone, which had recently [19] established its own dairy business.

Biscuits[edit]

Britannia Little Hearts

The company's factories have an annual capacity of 433,000 tonnes. The brand names of biscuits include VitaMarieGold, Tiger, Nutrichoice Junior,Good day, 50 50, Treat, Pure Magic, Milk Bikis, Good Morning, Bourbon, Thin Arrowroot, Nice, Little Hearts and many more.

[3]

Tiger, the mass market brand, realised $150.75 million in sales including exports to countries including the U.S. and Australia, or 20% of Britannia revenues in 2006. In a separate dispute from the shareholder matters, the company alleged in 2006 that Danone had violated its intellectual property rights in the Tiger brand by registering and using Tiger in several countries without its consent. Britannia claimed the company found out that Danone had launched the Tiger brand in Indonesia in 1998, and later in Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and Egypt, when it attempted to register the Tiger trademark in some of these [20] [21] countries in 2004. Whilst it was initially reported in December 2006 that agreement had been reached, it was [20] reported in September 2007 that a solution remained elusive. In the meantime since Danone's biscuit business has been taken over by Kraft, the Tiger brand of biscuits in Malaysia was renamed Kraft Tiger Biscuits in September 2008. Britannia initiated legal action against Danone in Singapore in September 2007. The dispute was resolved in 2009 [23] with Britanniasecuring rights to the Tiger brand worldwide, and Danone paying Rs220 million to utilise the brand.
ANAND AGARWAL - Head-Finance & Taxation
[22]

ANURADHA NARASIMHAN - Director-Marketing ASHOK NAMBOODIRI - Head-Dairy Business

GUNJAN SHAH - General Manager-Replenishment HARISH R NAVARATHNA - Head-Corporate IT L. SYAMPRASAD - Head-Manufacturing MANOJ BALGI - Head-Procurement N R SELVARAJ - General Manager-Quality N. VENKATARAMAN - General Manager-Commercial R K AGARWAL - General Manager-Projects SHRIDHAR PANSHIKAR - National Sales Director VIVEK P RAIZADA - Head-Legal & Company Secretary

VINITA BALI Vinita Bali was appointed Managing Director on 31st May 2006. Vinita joined as Chief Executive Officer of the Company in January 2005. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Economics from LSR at the University of Delhi and her MBA at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies at Bombay University. She pursued postgraduate studies in Business and Economics at Michigan State University on a scholarship from The Rotary Foundation, and was selected to work as a Graduate Intern at the United Nations headquarters in New York. She started her career with Voltas Ltd.-a Tata Group company focusing on consumer products, where she launched Rasna soft-drink concentrate. In 1980, Vinita joined Cadbury India, where she had a successful career in roles of increasing responsibility, not just in India, but also in the UK, Nigeria and South Africa. Vinita also served on the Boards of Cadbury Nigeria and Cadbury South Africa. The Coca-Cola Company chose her as its worldwide Marketing Director in 1994 where she was responsible for the worldwide strategy for Coke, and was one of the key players in doubling its historical growth rate. In 1997 she took over as Vice President of Marketing for Latin America, and in 1999 relocated to Chile as President of the Andean Division with sales in excess of USD 1 Billion. In 2001, she was made a corporate officer of The Coca-Cola Company and appointed Vice President of Corporate Strategy reporting to the Chairman. After an eventful nine-year association with Coke, Vinita joined her mentor at Coke, Sergio Zyman at the Zyman Group in July 2003 as a Managing Principal and Head of the Business Strategy practice in the company's Atlanta office. As a member of the company's Board of Managers, Vinita shared responsibility for developing and managing Zyman Group's consulting business. Top

VARUN BERRY Varun Berry was appointed the Executive Director of Britannia Industries Limited on 11th November 2013. Varun joined Britannia in January 2013 and was designated as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer with effect from 1st February 2013. He will have directly reporting into him functions of Marketing, Sales and Product Development for Bread, Cake and Rusk. Varun joined us from Pepsico. Varun comes with over 27 years of work experience with premier companies like Hindustan Unilever and Pepsico, both in India and overseas and a successful track record of leading start ups, turnarounds, joint ventures and growth businesses. His most recent assignment was as CEO of Pepsico Foods for South Asia. Prior to that Varun was the CEO of the International Dairy and Juice business based in the Middle-East, CEO of Beverages and Foods in the Philippines, COO Pepsico, Vietnam and several sales operating roles in India. Before joining Pepsico in India in 1993, Varun worked with Jumbo Electronics in the UAE and Hindustan Unilever in marketing and sales roles in India.

Top

VINAY SINGH KUSHWAHA Vinay Singh Kushwaha joined Britannia in August, 2010 and was appointed Vice President - Supply Chain effective 1st August. In his current role, Vinay is responsible for manufacturing, projects and technology, planning & replenishment. Since 1st Feb, 2011 he has assumed the additional responsibility of Quality Assurance. He completed a B. Tech degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and joined Hindustan Lever in 1986 as a management trainee. In his career of 22 years with Hindustan Lever, he did a variety of technical and supply chain roles and in different businesses and rose rapidly to the position of a Vice President.. He worked in the North African business of Unilever as a Supply Chain Director for 3 years and as a

Regional Vice president for Skin care category for Asia. He was part of the Unilever's Singapore based Supply Chain Leadership team for Asia. Vinay joins us from Dabur India where he was Executive Director-Operations responsible for India and global operations of the Company.

Top

VINOD MENON Vinod Menon took over as Chief Financial Officer effective 1st February 2013. He will have Finance, Legal, Secretarial and Procurement reporting to him. Vinod was designated the Vice President-Office of Strategy Deployment & New Business Development in April 2012, before which he was the Head-Dairy Business. He started his career with Hotel Leela Venture in the Treasury function, before joining their auditors Picardo and Associates as a Partner. He joined Britannia in 1993 and over the last 19 years has handled several roles in Finance, Commercial and Accounts, both in the Corporate Office and region. He was also the Process Owner of the Finance function in Company-wide SAP implementation task and has led work in both Internal Audit, and in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Top

PASCAL VILLE Pascal Ville joined Britannia as VP - R&D and Quality, in September 2013. He is an Engineer in Food Technology and has a Bachelors degree with specialization in Agriculture. Pascal has 26 years of experience in leading R&D and Quality functions and as a Plant Director with various international companies in manufacturing of food products; mainly biscuits, breakfast cereals, confectionery, jams and compotes. He earlier worked as R&D Manager with Panier Tanguy and also in Dailycer Group.

Top

PRASHANT VATKAR Joined in August 2010 as the CEO for SFIC based in Dubai. Started heading the entire International business for Britannia as CEO with effective from December 2011.

Engineer in Mechanical Engineering from Walcand College of Engineering in 1989 post which worked for Tata Motors for 3 years. Did MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 1994. Worked with Marico and Heinz India in India in sales, marketing roles till 2003.

Having P&L responsibility for last 10 years based in Dubai for businesses of Marico, Samsonite and SFIC. Before joining Britannia was with Samsonite as VP for ME & Africa business.

IFL