At the start of his first interaction with a select section of the Mumbai press, Hindustan Lever's new chairman burst out: "I definitely am the youngest chairman ever at HLL. But I am only 45 years old, not 47 as was earlier (wrongly) given out by my company."
No surprise when M S "Vindi" Banga later said: "I want to turn HLL into a more youthful company." In a freewheeling discussion, Banga began with echoing his predecessor's (Keki Dadiseth) philosophies. As time went by, it became increasingly clear that the man who worked his way up from the grass-roots was there to stamp a more lasting impression on Levers' future.
On the challenges that face him: The biggest challenge that I will face is retaining our best talent. A young high-performer today has a plethora of options. To keep our best people, HLL as a company will have to change ... become more youthful to ensure that our own people like us. We are currently working out a very attractive and aggressive stock options scheme as part of the plan, far more attractive than what anyone else has come out with till now.
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On the internal venture capital fund: We have already funded three ideas. And approvals are being given in 24 hours. There is a lot of entrepreneurial instinct in our managers. We want them to exploit it through HLL, provided it fits into our existing and future business plans.
On growing the company's businesses: We are looking at three time horizons - the businesses of today, tomorrow and the day-after. We are investing for consolidating the existing businesses (the businesses of today) by putting strategies in place to counter competition. The businesses of tomorrow - launderettes, vending chains, etc - are also being developed simultaneously. Besides, we have also identified 8-9 new business areas that will drive the company's growth in the future (the businesses of day-after-tomorrow).
On addressing consumer preferences: An Indian consumer is very discerning, she wants value for money. We realise that we will have to move very fast .. in fact, it is not sufficient to move fast but it is essential to move at net speed.
In today's context, you are either fast or dead. HLL also plans to make significant disclosures about individual products, as is the international trend, on the packaging itself. We have initiated a process called `Hello Hindustan' for the purpose.
On the company's pricing policy: We intend to be at every price point. While there is a growth opportunity at the top-end, we will hold on to our position in the middle- and lower segments as well. We are putting in place strategies to counter the phenomenon of downtrading, and sell the proposition of quality while countering cheaper products from our competitors. We will also have to bring down our costs to be price competitive.
On the extent of integration with parent Unilever: The parent company looks at us as very innovative and forward looking. We have exported a lot of products and ideas to Unilever, and the process will continue. Fair & Lovely, for example, now sells in 80 countries across the world. We will also import a lot many Unilever brands following the announcements in the last Exim policy. There is a large market of high net worth individuals who can be tapped with premium-end products.
On exploiting the New Economy: With our bricks and mortar backup (the distribution network), we will emerge as the largest e-tailer. We will invest a lot in setting up the B2B backbone, apart of addressing the consumer directly through a B2C setup.