India to be in the top 3 markets in the next 5 years: Anshu Budhraja

Q&A with Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India

After Amway India chief executive Willima Pickney’s arrest on money laundering charges, the past two years have been tough for the company. Revenue dipped almost 20 per cent. Amway now aims to treble sales within the next 10 years. In an interaction with Arindam Majumder the company’s first Indian chief executive Anshu Budhraja shares plans of entering newer categories, opening stores, increasing digital presence and making India a manufacturing hub. Excerpts:

Amway India plans to treble sales in a decade. That’s an ambitious target. What is the strategy?

There is a huge potential for direct selling in India and it is yet to be exploited. India has always been a key market. We are among the top-10 markets for Amway globally. But, my target is to have India feature in the top-three in the next five years.

We are going to enter newer product segments like consumer durables and plan to launch cookware range in India in 2017. New products in the nutrition and beauty category would also be launched. The company has planned digitally-enabled next-generation stores and is working with Microsoft for the project. The first such store would be launched in Bengaluru later this year.

Personal care and nutrition & wellness have been the largest segments for you with about 70 per cent of revenue coming from these. Do you plan to enter newer segments?

You are right. Nutrition & wellness and beauty are the two focus categories. However, I am open to entering newer categories and territories if we are convinced that the product will deliver value to the end consumer and is compatible for the direct-selling model...

What is the company’s plan about new launches? What products are in the pipeline?

We have robust plans for the Indian market. The launch of our manufacturing plant would give us further edge, as we would be able to make products on our own. Next year, we are looking at launching close to 10 new products.

What are Amway’s plans of developing India as a manufacturing hub?

We are focusing on implementing the best process as well as machinery to make high-quality and evolved products. We are keen on making the Indian manufacturing unit a regional export base in the near future. India has already been selected by our global research and development team as a key location.

What are you doing in terms of reassuring the government over the direct-selling controversy?

The direct-selling industry has been engaging with the government in an effort to take direct selling out of the ambit of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 without diluting the Act against the chit funds. The lack of clear direct-selling laws fails to help law enforcement distinguish between ethical companies and organisations that are fraudulent.  

We want to help the government enact a direct-selling legislation that protects ethical operators like Amway and prohibits fraudulent operators. I have been part of all the meetings that the direct-selling industry has done with the consumer affairs ministry.

What is the company’s strategy for e-commerce?

The digital space is close to my heart and I see huge opportunity here. We already have an online presence, but that is in the business-to-business space. Digital currently contributes almost 35 per cent of Amway India’s revenues. We expect this to go up significantly. We are continuously working to make the online experience better for distributors.

We are working towards launching an initiative where a distributor can introduce a customer on our website and make her a part of Amway’s special customer programme. Once introduced, she can interact directly with Amway. This programme would be launched next year when we would have started manufacturing at our plant in Nillakottai, Tamil Nadu.

Amway aims to get into the business-to-consumer segment. Does that mean decreased dependence on agent-based format?

No, dependence of our distributors will not go down. We would continue to sell through our distributors. We sell our products exclusively through them. They bring value to customers in the form of personal service and product knowledge gained through valuable training, education and experience. So, even in the new scheme of things, the role of a distributor will remain as important as before.