Per capita FMCG consumption spend in India is amongst the lowest in the world: Sanjiv Mehta, CMD, Hindustan Unilever

Read on for insights from the speech by Mehta at the company's 86th Annual General Meeting.

While addressing the shareholders at the recently held HUL’s 86th Annual General Meeting in Mumbai, Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) envisioned a scenario wherein, if India can bend the growth curve and deliver a consistent growth rate of 9 percent and above, the country could transform itself to a US $10 trillion economy by 2032, and catapult itself into the upper echelons of middle-income countries.

In his speech titled ‘Reimagining FMCG in a changing India, Mehta talked about the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. He said that the economic growth and technological changes provide an exciting future for the industry. He informed that despite being one of the fastest growing markets globally for FMCG products in recent times, the per capita FMCG consumption spend in India is amongst the lowest in the world, giving the industry a long runway for growth. Matching up to Indonesian levels would grow the market by 2X and to China levels by 4X.

He said, “The next few years will see the very nature of employment in the country transform. Re-skilling of our workforce will become a national priority. Machines will augment human cognition and it will be imperative for companies to optimally leverage human plus machine at the same time.”

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On talking about what will the new India mean for HUL, he added, "At HUL, we have a five-pronged strategy to continue to thrive in the new India – drive purpose into our brands and enhance the societal impact, innovate for the future, build a future-fit organisation, nurture talent in the new age, and reimagine the business across the value chain by leveraging data and technology."

Click here for the presentation.