Mondelez's India push grows; local products go international

In the past few years, the firm has invested close to Rs 1,200 crore across manufacturing, distribution and supply chain management in India

US food major Mondelez International, formed following the demerger of Kraft in 2012, is increasing its India bet as its quest for growth prompts it to keep its attention firmly on emerging markets. This even as the Indian market faces a discretionary spending slowdown. This has slowed the pace of Mondelez's local business, pegged at Rs 5,000 crore, according to industry estimates.

In a conversation with Business Standard, Mondelez's India Managing Director Chandramouli Venkatesan said the company's popular Cadbury 5 Star bar had been launched in Brazil recently.

This trend is expected to gather steam as Mondelez taps into its local unit's human and intellectual capital. "This is a two-way process, where we get support from the international and regional offices in terms of best practices, people, processes, resources and brands. In turn, we are doing our bit by contributing to the global pool with our talent, resources and capabilities," Venkatesan said.

Cadbury Glow, Mondelez's chocolate gifting brand, was first launched in India last year. This product was made in collaboration with Mondelez's global and Indian research and development units. Global-Indian partnership efforts, Venkatesan said, would only increase in the future.

These developments also come as Mondelez keeps up its pace of investment in the country. In the past few years, it has invested close to Rs 1,200 crore across manufacturing, distribution and supply chain management in India. In addition to the six manufacturing plants in the country, the firm is building its seventh unit in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.

The SriCity unit would be the largest for the company in the

Asia-Pacific region. The multi-product manufacturing facility will kick-off with making chocolates first.

However, as the global major introduces more products across categories such as snacks, biscuits and beverages, this plant could be pressed into service. As things stand now, Mondelez is the leading player in chocolates with close to 70 per cent share of the domestic market.

In biscuits, it has Oreo, while in powdered beverages, it has Tang. Market shares of the latter two brands could not be ascertained. Mondelez has attempted to consolidate their positions in a competitive biscuit and beverages market.

While Venkatesan gave no hints of future product launches, industry analysts say global innovations such as Marvellous Creations, a candy covered in chocolate, could come to India. Bubbly, also an innovation (an aerated chocolate) was launched two months ago in India. In a recent investor conference, global chief executive Irene Rosenfeld had said Marvellous, present in Australia, UK and Canada under the Cadbury brand name, would be expanded to other countries. Speculation of its likely India launch has grown since Marvellous' recent entry was into South Africa and Egypt. It was taken to Russia and Germany earlier.