Managing Director & CEO, Tata Consumer Products Limited
Indusfood Elite: Sunil A Dsouza, Tata Consumer Products
The food industry is evolving fast.
The conversations shaping it? Not always public.
We begin Indusfood Elite with a voice that’s shaping the future of India’s consumer story — Mr. Sunil A. D’Souza, MD & CEO of Tata Consumer Products.
From leading one of the country’s most iconic FMCG businesses to driving transformation at scale, this is a conversation that goes beyond headlines.
No scripts. No surface talk. Just sharp insights on leadership, growth, and the evolving food landscape.
This is where the industry speaks.
#IndusfoodElite #Leadership #FMCG #FoodIndustry #CEOTalks #IndustryVoi...
About Sunil D'souza
Sunil D'Souza, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Consumer Products, stated during the company’s Q1 FY27 earnings call that growth businesses grew 47% year-on-year and scaled to 36% of the portfolio, describing it as the best-ever quarter for those businesses. He said that 25 to 30% growth should be the new normal going forward. On tea procurement, D'Souza noted he has stopped trying to forecast tea prices, observing 7 to 10% inflation in the category and a good crop in Assam, with inflation more pronounced at the bottom end of the portfolio. At the company’s 63rd Annual General Meeting, D'Souza outlined medium-term margin targets, stating the company will look at 17% EBITDA margin and eventually aim to cross 20%, with an improvement of 50 to 100 basis points per year. He also noted the dividend policy is to provide 50 to 75% of profit after tax, with the company paying 60% on a standalone basis and 62% on a consolidated basis. In a podcast interview, D'Souza said that in FMCG, "the real cola wars are fought on the street" and that availability is key for impulse products. He also stated a preference for team players over superstars, saying "I would rather have 10 ordinary people rather than have one superstar" because business is about creating a lasting team.
Transcript (23 segments)
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Sunil D'souza0:00
India is one of the biggest agricultural producers, but not all of that we are able to translate. Organic is becoming another big trend. The single biggest legacy that we have and what we are going to pass on is the four letters TATA.
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Richa Jain Kalra0:34
Hello and welcome to Indus Food Elite. I'm Richa Jain Kalra. In this segment, we feature some of the most accomplished business leaders from the space of FMCG who share their mantra and of course their insights on the growing business in food and beverages industry in India. I'm privileged to host Mr. Sunil D'Souza, MD and CEO of Tata Consumer Products as our special guest today. So, welcome to the show.
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Sunil D'souza0:58
My pleasure to be here.
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Richa Jain Kalra1:00
In the past few years, Indian consumer has become a lot more conscious than earlier. How is it reshaping your strategy, your growth, and your products?
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Sunil D'souza1:09
So, there are multiple aspects affecting the Indian consumer, yes. Number one is with access to the internet and information, the consumer is becoming extremely savvy. Social media is starting to shape narratives for the consumers, both influencing and disinfluencing. So, that's one part. The second part is there is a set of consumers who are going back to tradition, right? So, Ayurveda and our historical food habits. But on the other side, there are consumers who are getting extremely scientific. That's the second piece. The third piece is again because of education, because of the food regulator also working tightly, the consumer is getting extremely aware of what they're eating. So, clean label, what we call in the food business is HFFS — high fat, salt, and sugar — that's becoming a cause of concern and consumers are watching the labels and what they're eating. The other piece is the pesticides and their downstream coming into food, and therefore organic is becoming another big trend. Then of course there's this general big trend of protein, prebiotics, all this kind of stuff. And the last one which I think we've yet to see the whole movie unfold is this whole GLP stuff coming into the Indian mainstream. I think the generics for GLP have just got approved and that is going to be a game-changer because if it really...
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Richa Jain Kalra2:37
Could you elaborate more on the GLP for those who are not versed with it?
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Sunil D'souza2:42
So GLP is this new range of drugs which actually were designed for diabetics, but over a period of time they've been found to be helpful in various conditions including weight loss. And now from a consumer perspective, that's becoming a thing. But the catch is people who are on GLP drugs, their protein intake drops, their fiber intake drops, prebiotics, probiotics drops. So they need a supporting food regimen. So that is becoming another big trend. In the western world it's already starting to take off. I do believe that will also come to India.
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Richa Jain Kalra3:18
So you're referring to drugs like Ozempic?
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Sunil D'souza3:20
Ozempic, Mounjaro, there is a whole range of them. And once the generic versions are approved, the Indian pharma companies are very quick to roll out stuff.
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Richa Jain Kalra3:29
Indian agri business is doing extremely well off late. How do you see it competing globally? As you said the consumer demand in India is redefining the space, but globally how are the trends?
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Sunil D'souza3:41
I would split it in two or three different pieces. Indian agriculture has come of age. And in many of those categories like rice, wheat, sugar, India is now a leading exporter and therefore cost-wise India is extremely competitive. That's one. Second one, for many of the food products, especially where there is manual labor, there is again an added cost benefit from an Indian perspective. So that's one piece. The second piece is the Indian diaspora worldwide, right? The Indian diaspora worldwide, especially in countries like US, UK, etc., are extremely significant. And they still crave for food from home, right? So therefore Indian brands, Indian products do well. And lastly, I think Indian food overall is now coming onto the world stage. So if I dial back say 20-30 years back, there was this export standard, right? Indian standard and export standard. I think today that's no longer true. The Indian consumer is very well educated, is exposed, and like I said, the food regulator is bringing up our standards in line with the global standards.
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Richa Jain Kalra4:49
When you represent Tata Consumer Products and you're exporting in 40 countries, are you saying that the quality that you dish out in the Indian market is at par with the global market?
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Sunil D'souza5:00
Absolutely. I would not rate the Indian consumer even one notch lower than the global consumer. In fact, we pride ourselves on the fact that whatever we produce for India is what we export internationally. Yes, there'll be a few tweaks because there are certain ingredients which are allowed in certain countries, not allowed in certain countries. For example, salt. There are some countries which want iodine, some countries which do not want iodine. We've got to make those tweaks, but from an overall quality standards, it's absolutely the same for India. But coming back, I think the Indian consumer is getting much more sophisticated. They're watching the labels, they're watching what they eat. They're watching salt, sodium, fat, sugar. But that said, the consumer will not give up taste for health. They want health, but they're not willing to compromise on taste. And therefore, the challenge is always back to the food companies to make sure that tweaking the products to be healthy, but not drop in taste.
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Richa Jain Kalra5:56
Tata Consumer Products has acquired a lot of brands also in the past. What are the key things that you look for in forging the B2B partnerships for brands who might be looking up to you?
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Sunil D'souza6:06
When we are doing B2B partnerships, I think I go back to we are part of the Tata Group and there are Tata values, ethics, our code of conduct, etc. That's paramount to us. Number one. So, therefore, when we look for partners, we look for a similar set of values. Because the one thing we do believe is we stand for something. We will not compromise that. That's number one. Number two is as the chairman constantly reminds us, the single biggest legacy that we have and what we are going to pass on is the four letters T-A-T-A, right? And that denotes trust. So, whatever we do, trust is paramount. So, we will only deal in products which denote trust, only deal with customers which denote trust, and also, more importantly, we will form lasting relationships.
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Richa Jain Kalra6:56
The Indian FMCG sector last year in '24 was about 240 billion, if I'm not wrong, and it's supposed to grow to over 600 billion by 2027. In the meanwhile, what do you think are the challenges in this space while addressing this big potential?
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Sunil D'souza7:14
A lot of the transformation which is going to happen is unbranded to branded products. A. B. Consumers will move up the premium space. And C. There will be new ingredients and new forms of consumption which will come in. So, I think the single biggest thing is keeping abreast of where the consumer is moving and adapting to that space. That's number one. Number two is food processing and the entire capacity of the supply chain. India is one of the biggest agricultural producers, but not all of that we are able to translate. So, the entire food supply chain has to start streamlining. Whether it is cold storages, whether it is preservation of food, setting up different infrastructure for manufacture. I think that is one of the big challenges.
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Richa Jain Kalra8:05
When we look at platforms like Indus Food, what kind of opportunities do you see for startups, for corporates, for big players like yours here?
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Sunil D'souza8:16
I would think for every single player, it is your ability to showcase your products to a far bigger audience than what you could do yourself. Because you see there are global suppliers, there are global buyers coming here. So, that's number one. Number two, the other big opportunity which I see, and I take a walk around, is to see A, what's trending. B, there will be specific suppliers coming out with specific innovation which gives you ideas and you could partner with them. And number three, overall is this whole sense of if you want something, you know you can get it, this is the place.
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Richa Jain Kalra9:00
Lastly, I want to touch upon the organic clean label thing. A lot of people in India have this notion, correct me if I'm wrong, that India does not have enough of organic farming and a lot of labeling as organic and clean is not actually clean. How do you address that?
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Sunil D'souza9:17
I wouldn't comment on the second part of your question, but I would definitely say that India has somewhere to go in ramping up its organic produce. APEDA and FSSAI are doing a lot of things — tweaking regulations constantly, education, partnering with industry, so that's being done. But I do think there is a lot of opportunity because, inherently, organic apart from being healthier, so to speak, because there's no pesticides, no fertilizers, etc., overall I would say yield drops a little bit, but there are no high-cost fertilizer, pesticides, etc. to put in. And large parts of India which had not gone to industrialized agriculture, if I may call it, because of lack of either access to markets or to irrigation facilities, etc. Those are the parts. So, for example, Organic India, which we just acquired a couple of years back, the organic farms are in Rajasthan and Gujarat, which are not traditional agricultural areas. But when you go there and look at the farmers and you look at the joy in their faces because you are paying them the right price, you are doing a back-to-back agreement, they're able to grow crops, they're able to improve their lives. I think that's a fantastic thing.
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Richa Jain Kalra10:47
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and opinions and giving us an overview of the emerging trends in the consumer market, especially in the F&B section. Thanks. It was great having you with us.
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Sunil D'souza10:57
Thank you. Always my pleasure.