N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Consumer Products (TCPL), affirms India's credible economic growth, propelled by robust demographic fundamentals and an accelerating digital public infrastructure, while highlighting the company's strategic focus on resilience, digital transformation, and AI integration in a volatile global environment.
Key Points
- India's economic growth is credible, supported by strong demographics and accelerating digital public infrastructure, according to N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Consumer Products.
- The global landscape is characterised by fragmentation, high volatility, and low visibility, necessitating organisational resilience and nimbleness.
- Government measures like income-tax cuts, lower interest rates, and GST 2.0 have boosted disposable incomes and eased inflation, strengthening macroeconomic stability.
- The Indian consumer market shows an irreversible trend towards premiumisation, health and wellness, and digital-native consumption.
- TCPL is leveraging AI to augment its workforce, capture micro trends, compress product development cycles, and build industry-specific AI solutions at scale.
India continues to experience credible economic growth, N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Consumer Products (TCPL), said in his note to shareholders in the company’s annual report for 2025–26, adding that the country’s trajectory is underpinned by strong demographic fundamentals and an accelerating digital public infrastructure.
Navigating Global Shifts and Economic Resilience
He opened his letter by saying: “We are operating in an era defined by profound structural shifts, heightened geopolitical sensitivity, and rapid technological advancements.”
Chandrasekaran also said the global landscape has become increasingly fragmented, leading to a high-volatility, low-visibility environment where traditional forecasting models are constantly being tested.
“We believe that, to thrive in this current environment, an organisation needs to invest in resilience and be nimble in reacting to situations.”
The government’s recent measures, such as income-tax cuts, lower interest rates and GST 2.0, have pushed up disposable incomes and eased inflation, especially food inflation.
Steady government investment has also strengthened macroeconomic stability.
“This provides a robust canvas for the Indian consumer market, where we see an irreversible trend towards premiumisation, health and wellness, and digital-native consumption,” the letter added.
TCPL's Strategic Growth and Digital Transformation
Over the past few years, TCPL has diversified its portfolio, nurtured its brands and built new growth engines while strengthening its core categories, he said.
The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company has also built future-ready capabilities across its business operations to enable the next phase of growth.
With the FMCG landscape evolving, execution across channels remains key.
During the year, TCPL undertook a calibrated transformation of its go-to-market model in India to ensure sharper category focus and improve productivity across its distribution network, Chandrasekaran said.
He added that alternative channels continue to outpace traditional retail, with new-age channels now contributing 41 per cent of its India business.
The growth has been led by the rapid expansion of quick commerce.
However, traditional retail remains the backbone of its go-to-market strategy, and TCPL continues to invest in the traditional channel.
Leveraging AI for Future Growth
“As part of our digital transformation journey, we are aiming to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to augment our human workforce.
"Anchored by a robust AI Launchpad, we are looking to leverage the group’s rich consumer data as a connected knowledge layer to build industry-specific AI solutions at scale. We are building capabilities to anticipate and serve evolving consumer needs,” he said.
This includes personalised shopping agents across emerging channels and ensuring readiness to engage seamlessly in new consumption ecosystems.
“During the year, we deployed AI to capture micro trends and compress product development cycles, commercialised multiple agentic models across functions, and put several more in advanced field testing,” Chandrasekaran told shareholders.
ooking ahead, the long-term drivers of TCPL’s growth remain strong, he said.
India’s demographic advantage, growing per capita incomes, rising aspirations, increasing awareness of health and wellness, and the expansion of digital commerce create a durable opportunity landscape.
“While short-term volatility may persist, I am confident our strong and capable team, diversified portfolio, strong balance sheet, and disciplined execution will continue to help us unlock growth opportunities,” he said.
“Our focus is on the fundamentals: driving growth, enhancing margins, and strengthening our brand equity.
"We are committed to turning this operational discipline into consistent long-term value for our stakeholders,” he said while closing his note.
