By 2025, Nestlé aims to invest $613 million in India

The large-scale investment, according to the Swiss food and beverage company, would be its largest ever in the Indian market and comes in response to the nation’s high demand for certain items, particularly its portfolio of coffee brands.

To take advantage of expanding market prospects for its goods in India, Swiss multinational food and beverage company Nestlé wants to invest Rs. 5,000 Cr ($613m) in the nation by 2025.

According to Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider, “rapid investment plans” will allow for the company’s product line to be expanded, new manufacturing facilities to be established, brand enhancements, and prospective acquisitions.

All of Nestlé’s product categories in the nation, including coffee, will benefit from the support. Nescafé Classic, Gold, and Sunrise mixes are just a few of the retailed Nescafé items that Nestlé offers in India. Additionally, it produces and sells the coffee machine with an app from É by Nescafé.

“In my opinion, India is in a very favourable situation. Although there are concerns about inflation, there is a solid underlying volume demand because of the expanding middle class and rising income levels. That outweighs a few potential inflation-related worries. In general, our organisation is strongly devoted to appropriate pricing and maintaining goods accessible to all social classes. But given the robust economic development we’re witnessing, I believe India is less affected than many other sizable economies,” Schneider added.

In 2021, Nestlé India generated revenues of Rs. 14,709 Cr ($1.8bn). Currently, the business has nine production facilities around the nation, employing about 6,000 workers.

Since it started production there in 1961, this investment is Nestlé’s largest in India.

For the first half of 2022, Nestlé claimed “broad-based double-digit growth” in the South Asian market, which it attributed to enhanced brand equity and distribution growth. Most categories, including Nescafé and Nestlé Professional, saw growth in India.

India has a good development opportunity for Nestlé, particularly in the instant coffee segment. Revenues at rival Tata Coffee, which the Indian business said increased by 24% in the first quarter, benefited significantly from the product.

For the quarter that ended on June 30, 2022, Bangalore-based Tata Coffee, which operates the retail packaged coffee brands Eight O’Clock Coffee, Tata Coffee Grand, and Sonnets by Tata Coffee, reported revenues of Rs. 6.7 billion ($83.6 million), up from Rs. 5.4 billion ($67.5 million) for the corresponding period in 2021.