Procter & Gamble global chief executive David Taylor met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to discuss the company's manufacturing initiatives in the country and partnership opportunities in education and the government's cleanliness drive.
In line with P&G's global sustainability goals, the company said it has offered to help the country's Clean India Initiative (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) by using technology to reduce waste to landfill that will up-cycle sanitary waste.
The maker of Ariel and Pampers appointed Taylor as its chief a year ago amid falling global sales and restructuring of its products portfolio. Internationally, Taylor has been reorganising P&G's brand portfolio, focusing on the core ones and selling dozens of unprofitable brands.
"We reinforced our commitment to sustainability and agreed to partner with the Indian government on the Clean India initiative to protect the environment and reduce waste to landfill. We also reaffirmed our mutual goal to improve the lives of women and children," said Taylor, who visited India as part of an India-Middle East-Africa region tour.
"Overall, it was an exciting meeting and we were proud to be able demonstrate P&G's commitment to this dynamic and fast growing country," added Taylor.
P&G's three entities in India, which sell products ranging from detergents and shampoo to razors and sanitary napkins, have combined revenue of under $2 billion, less than 3 per cent of its overall sales.
P&G invested more than Rs 2,000 crore in India in the past three years, mainly to set up manufacturing units to reduce dependence on pricier imports. At present, it has seven manufacturing facilities in six states, which account for more than 90 per cent of the company's products sold in the Indian subcontinent.
The consumer goods maker's strategy in India has been paying off — profit margin is up 750 basis points and the company has gone from losing significant money in the country to triple-digit profits in the last two years.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Oct 4, 2016 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST