A tale of two MNCs and two regulators

The FDA Bhawan in Delhi seems to have shed its anti-foreign stand of three years ago. Will the soft touch work?

What’s common between Nestle and Johnson & Johnson? Well, other than being global majors in consumer-facing sectors, the two multinationals have made the Indian food and pharma regulators sit up. While these regulators share the same headquarters in New Delhi’s FDA Bhawan, they have dealt with the two groups rather differently, some three years apart, and how.

Food, especially noodles, is a touchy issue impacting millions, and therefore, the constituents of Nestle’s Maggi turned into a subject of a high-pitch battle. The alleged presence of lead and monosodium glutamate beyond permissible limits, as shown in various sample tests, did make it