Nestle India targets growth in other businesses after Maggi scare

A few days after taking over as the managing director of Nestle India, Suresh Narayan sat down with CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, and explained that his “first mandate was to bring Maggi noodles back in the market” and that his company would work overtime to make sure it meets customers’ expectations on quality.

“Task number one is to get Maggi back”.

Seeking cooperation from authorities, he said: “It is my endeavour and those of my colleagues that we come to with respect, with cooperation, with support from the authorities, I am not in a confrontational frame”. Nestle has begun a massive operation to destroy over 27,000 tonnes of Maggi across the country.

Nestle, in its petition, challenged the ban on Maggi variants claiming that the tests conducted by FSSAI and FDA were unreliable and that Nestle products did not contain lead beyond permissible limits. We do 100 million tests worldwide as a company.

Narayanan said due to the ban, “a whole business segment has been dismantled” and “the whole system (of supply chain, manufacturing and distribution) is on freeze”.

The Bombay high court yesterday reserved its order till Monday on a petition filed by Nestle India against orders of Food Safety Standards Authority of India and Food and Drugs Administration of Maharashtra banning Maggi. It is my fervent hope that we will be able to find a solution and move forward and resolve the issue, ‘ he said, but did not specify how much time the company expects to put Maggi back on the shelves.

This is going to be constituting the part of the learning of the organisation.

Also, though only three variants were tested, the regulators banned all nine variants of Maggi, Chhagla said, adding there was no substance in the allegation of FSSAI about the company destroying evidence by burning Maggi stock.

Narayanan said the company is also open to discussion with the government on quality of products.