Coca-Cola India's T Krishnakumar: Solid on facts, fluent in English

He talks about his plans for the company and after

While working at the Murugappa Group several years ago, T Krishnakumar and one of his colleagues had to make separate presentations to the board on an important initiative the group was planning to launch. Krishnakumar, known as KK to friends and colleagues, says he worked very hard on it, but his presentation was not accepted. He was later told by one of the board members that while he was indeed solid on facts, he was not articulate enough.

That, Krishnakumar says, was a turning point in his career, making him realise that “being fluent in English” is as important as being “solid on facts” if he wanted to progress in his career. Instead of losing confidence, he took it up as a challenge and started working at “fluency in spoken English”, and spent a considerable amount of time with his grandfather, who had mastery over the language. He also insisted on speaking to all and sundry only in that language for many years. “The only place where I was myself and spoke in Tamil was at home. I still do,” he says. He has obviously learnt his lessons well, as the Krishnakumar I am meeting at the Sheraton New Delhi at Saket speaks the language with just the right accent. 

He had faced the same problems earlier at IIM Bangalore, where language was often a barrier, forcing him to be one of the low-profile students. “But IIM also taught me one very important lesson: You do not have to be high-profile as long as you put in your 100 per cent and do things that are top-class. Temporary setbacks don’t matter,” Krishnakumar, 57, an electronics engineering graduate from the College of Engineering, Guindy (Madras University), says, taking a deep sip of the Diet Coke he has just ordered. 

By his own admission, he may not be as high-profile as some of his counterparts in other companies, but that evidently hasn’t made any difference, mainly because of his hard work and desire to excel. Krishnakumar has obviously walked the talk, evident from his elevation to the position of president of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia four months ago. He had joined the company in 2004.

He has fond memories of Chennai’s Mylapore, where he grew up under the tutelage of his two grandfathers, who had a profound impact on him. Apart from Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, where he studied, Mylapore itself, he says, is an epitome of the Indian middle class. “I grew up in that surrounding and I still carry those values in me wherever I go. You can be well rooted in our tradition and culture and discuss world events at the same time,” he says.

Krishnakumar says what keeps him going is his mandatory hour-long pujas, in whichever part of the world he is in. “I am not a religious person in the narrow sense of the term, but I think it’s important to submit yourself to a superior force. That helps in clarity of thought and do your best without bothering too much about the consequences,” he says.

Dakshin is a favourite spot of his and though the décor and the menu haven’t changed much, it gives him a sense of nostalgia. Krishnakumar says he finds his current job easier than the one he did for almost 10 years (he led BIG’s [Bottling Investments Group] operations in India and South West Asia since 2009). That job involved leading a company that operates 24 bottling plants. During his tenure, Coca-Cola consolidated its bottling operations, buying out franchisee bottlers. Today, 67 per cent of Coke’s volumes are from company-owned bottlers and the rest from franchisees. 

His current job, he says, is mostly about marketing and strategising, which is like going back to his roots. Before joining Coca-Cola India, he was mostly in the marketing function across several companies. “The only thing that has changed is that I am now the face of Coke in India and have to meet a cross-section of people, including the media. That’s what I am here for today,” he says with a deadpan face, adding that one doesn’t necessarily have to be in business suits to succeed. I notice his white, cotton half-sleeved shirt, and his keen sense of humour.

As the stewards come to take the orders, Krishnakumar takes charge, saying he knows the menu almost by heart. He orders vegetable thali for himself and a non-veg one for me. The food is standard Dakshin fare — an assortment of south Indian delicacies. 

We turn to Coke’s indifferent performance in India in recent times. The company has been under pressure in the country for the past few quarters, with sales dropping “by a low single digit” during January-March 2017. During the same period last year, the company reported an 11 per cent growth. During the full year 2015-16, its profit in India fell by about six per cent while sales were flat. Krishnakumar says the company expects to come out of these short-term headwinds soon, and will look at pricing metrics to cater to consumers at every price point.

His main job now, he says, is to push forward a strategy that the company has already adopted — to evolve into a multi-category beverage player, in the space of ready-to-consume, non-alcoholic drinks. Coke is present in three categories now — sparkling beverages, juices and juice-based drinks, and water. The plan now is to focus on fruits and fruit-based products and straddle across price points. Besides, there are multiple drinking moments that everyone has, and Coke wants to get a significant share of those moments. 

One of the ways of doing it is efficient use of technology, as the products have to be made available to consumers where and when she wants. This change has created an unprecedented complexity, as consumers move from multi-screen to multi-forms of content, and from experiential to online communities. All of these changes point to the role that artificial intelligence, data and content can play in connecting with the consumer. Coke already has a “freestyle app” in many parts of the world, which sort of allows consumers to create their own drink choices and connect to a Coke Freestyle machine to get the drink. It will come to India, but Krishnakumar is non-committal about the time frame, as the company has to weigh the cost-benefit angle.

Coke, he says, has enhanced the reach and distribution of its products, which are now available in more than 2.6 million outlets. But that still is like scratching the surface of the packaged beverage market in India and his priority is to keep reinventing the company to stay relevant in the market. That’s a must, as Indian customers are the most difficult and want the best at the least possible price. But he sees this huge aspiration and knowledge of the best and latest practices all over the world as a big opportunity for Coke. 

The most immediate challenge for him, however, is to become no 5 in terms of volume sales for Coke (from sixth now) and move up to the top three markets in the world in the future. That was the target set by Coke’s global CEO, James Quincey, when he was on a recent trip to India. Evidently, it’s a tall order.

As we walk out of Dakshin, Krishnakumar says he has two definite plans for life after retirement: One, along with his wife, he wants to get involved in helping the rural and underprivileged communities become empowered through education; two, he wants to write a book on his experiences and the formula for success in corporate life. Considering his list of to-dos in Coke India, all that will have to wait for a long time.