INDIA GROWTH STORY: ‘India Offers Vast Opportunities and we are Going to Grab it’

Last Friday, local grocery stores in Palwal, Haryana, had an unlikely visitor — Emma Walmsley, president of the London-based GSK Consumer Healthcare. The first woman president of GSK Consumer spent the first two days of her ongoing week-long India trip visiting groceries and chemist stores in small cities here. "I wanted to listen to them…to see what we can do better… I'm super ambitious about India," Walmsley told Ratna Bhushan & Chaitali Chakravarty in an exclusive chat. She's here along with 250 top executives across 30 countries for the company's annual leadership meet — internally called the 'how to win' meet — being held outside the UK and US for the first time. Excerpts of the interview:

India is GSK Consumer Healthcare's highest growth market—is that why India was chosen for the meet?
Last year, we saw sales growth of 19% in India with our operating profit growing just as fast. That makes India a hugely important market both now and in the years to come. It's not just about the consumer business. India is a big part of the future plans for GSK as a whole and we are looking forward to continued growth here. What I love about India is how quickly the market place is evolving and growing. The opportunity is vast and we're going to grab it with both hands.
What are the key learnings you want your managers from other markets to take from India?
We need to understand the frontline dynamics of all the markets we operate in. The only way to deliver innovative products that people love is to truly understand the market place. We're going to be out and about spending time visiting retailers, really getting underneath the details of how this market operates. Horlicks, for example, is magical in India and we want our managers to make smart moves to unlock this magic in other emerging markets.
India was given region status, reporting directly to headquarters. How do you think it has benefitted India? In general, how does this benefit markets?
I believe our business as a whole benefits by having closer links to India. In the past, GSK has focused on white pills and western markets, but the world is changing and we need to shift our perspective to continue growing our business. We have some leading consumer brands in India like Horlicks and we see huge potential for some of our other brands like Sensodyne toothpaste and pain management brand Panadol (Crocin here).
What are the investments you have planned for the country?
We've got big investment plans over the next four years. This includes expanding our distribution to reach some 50,000 villages and investing around £40 million to boost production capacity at our three factories. We're going to invest in infrastructure and people to make it happen.
GSK has been segmenting Horlicks to various categories like noodles, flavoured milk, bars—but some of these haven't met with great success. How much is that a concern?
In Horlicks we have a brand which is synonymous with nutrition and well-being. Our aim is to build on that strength and heritage and deliver new products. We'll do that by combining insight into what people want with innovative science. Our overall success with new products within Horlicks has been more than satisfactory. We have gained share across oats, biscuits and Foodles. However, entering new categories is always full of challenges and success is almost always a mixed bag. We have taken some rich learnings, especially on the supply side and are building them into our plans going forward.
The company has been talking about acquisitions but no deal has happened yet. Are acquisitions important for you?
Acquisitions create opportunity but they must fit with our business strategy and drive towards our vision of becoming the world's first and best fast moving consumer healthcare company. What I'm looking for are great growth opportunities which complement our existing portfolio of brands. Our recent acquisition of Maxinutrition in the UK is a prime example of this.
Which product ideas or best practices are you exporting from India to replicate?
We're here to learn about the world-class implementation in the retail environment. Our team will be experiencing exciting things we are doing in-store and thinking about how we create impact and stand out with shoppers.
There are early signs of slowdown visible in the country. What's your growth outlook?
We are banking differentiation through science as our cutting edge. All our competitors can't say that. People are prepared to pay for sciencebased differentiated products.
Does GSKCH plan to tap into the talent pool of India for other markets? How?
Our aim is to nurture our top talent and give people a wide breadth of experience and opportunity. A high proportion of our general managers are either Indian or have worked here. We're developing local talent to support our growing business here and taking the skills and experience of our talented work force in India to work in other markets and to develop brands globally.
Anything that you would want to change about the operations here?
Horlicks is India's top packaged beverage behind bottled water. In fact, we're selling more than twice as much as other drinks brands. The change I want to make is that all of our brands should be as successful as Horlicks is.