Former Amazon India executive nominated to lead Nestle's India operations

3 min read Last Updated : Oct 07 2024 | 8:47 PM IST

Nestle India said in a stock exchange filing that it has received the nomination to appoint Manish Tiwary as the managing director from August 1, 2025, as its current chairman and managing director, Suresh Narayanan, will retire after working with the Nestle Group for 26 years.

Tiwary brings nearly three decades of experience and is currently serving as a director at Amazon Digital Services and More Consumer. He will step down from his directorship on October 30. He was also the country manager at Amazon India. Before joining Amazon India in 2016, Tiwary was at fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant Unilever for two decades, where he held roles in sales, marketing, and general management across various categories and channels in India, the Gulf, and North Africa, according to the stock exchange filing.

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Tiwary rarely misses his morning run, rain or shine, covering at least 5 km in his Hoka Mach 5 shoes. He brought the same dedication to overseeing daily operations at Amazon, which has thousands of employees in India.

Under Tiwary’s watch, Amazon was transforming into more than a shopping platform for Indians. The company started in India in 2013 with 100 sellers and now has over 1.2 million sellers from across the country. It is focusing on vernacular language and a voice-based shopping platform, aiming to be inclusive and accessible to the next 500 million users who mainly reside in “Bharat”—India’s small towns and cities. Besides streaming video and music services, it has launched miniTV, a free, ad-supported video streaming service for Amazon app users in India who are looking for short films.

Since 2013, Amazon has invested around $6.5 billion in the e-commerce business in India.

Under Tiwary’s leadership, Amazon India announced last year that it had cumulatively digitised more than 6.2 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), enabled close to $8 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports, and created over 1.3 million direct and indirect jobs in India to date. The company had previously pledged to digitise 10 million MSMEs, enable $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports, and create 2 million jobs in India by 2025. Amazon has stated that it is progressing well towards fulfilling these commitments.

Experts say that Tiwary is a hard-core FMCG professional, owing to his stint at Unilever, coupled with a great understanding of how e-commerce operates in the country.

Nestle India’s sales contribution from e-commerce stood at 6.8 per cent in the fifteen-month financial year that ended on March 31, according to its annual report. (Nestle India changed its financial year reporting from January-December to April-March, resulting in a five-quarter financial year in 2024.)

The company also said in its annual report that its e-commerce business continued to accelerate with significant growth in quick commerce along with click-and-mortar channels, driven by brands such as KitKat, Maggi Noodles, and others.

A source explained on condition of anonymity that Nestle India runs at a steady pace, and Tiwary has the energy to disrupt the system. He has the ability to enhance KitKat’s maker’s modern trade distribution, e-commerce penetration, and speed to market.

First Published: Oct 07 2024 | 8:47 PMIST