Mohit Malhotra’s journey at Dabur, one of India’s best-known Ayurveda products firm, is a tale of two halves. While the Dabur lifer, now 56, and just elevated as global CEO of the company, began as a management trainee in 1994, honing his skills in the domestic market, it was Dabur’s international ambitions that truly gave him flight a decade later.
“I’ve spent almost half my career outside of India, setting up the marketing headquarters in Dubai and growing the international business across markets,” he told FE. “I came back to India in 2018 as CEO, India business, taking over from Sunil (Duggal) as CEO, Dabur India, in 2019. Every opportunity has come with its challenges and lessons. I’ve enjoyed all,” he said.
Known for being a people’s person, Malhotra has a sharp mind and an articulate voice, industry executives said. He has also remained a part of industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry, where he has raised a number of issues dogging the sector in the last few years.
The Ghaziabad-based firm’s decision on Tuesday to tap Malhotra signals a broader reset of its international business, which contributes 25% to Dabur’s overall revenue. Malhotra will provide strategic direction to the firm’s global ambitions. This is even as the company will continue to keep a razor-sharp focus on India operations, appointing Herjit Bhalla as CEO of the company’s India business. Bhalla will report to Malhotra, who will continue to be based in India.
Dual Leadership
Shares of Dabur India fell over 2.5% intra-day on the BSE on Wednesday in response to the leadership reshuffle, finally settling down 1.17% at the end of trade at Rs 510.70 apiece. Sector analysts have interpreted the split of domestic and global responsibilities as a restructuring of Dabur’s leadership architecture. But Malhotra says that management depth is a strategic imperative for most companies and necessary from a long-term succession planning perspective.
“The India business is still the bigger part of Dabur, contributing 75% to its overall revenue. So, we certainly cannot and will not take our eye off the India business, with the domestic FMCG market now clawing back in terms of growth after an urban slowdown. The dual leadership structure will support growth. We will, however, restructure international operations, a plan that I will unveil later,” he said.
While Dabur’s products are available in 120 markets across four continents and has manufacturing facilities in several countries including Egypt, Nigeria, Nepal, Bangladesh, UAE, South Africa, and Turkey, global consumption trends are changing. “Like in India, digital-first brands are attracting disproportionate attention in the post-Covid-19 era. Companies such as Dabur, Marico, Godrej Consumer and Tata Consumer, which expanded globally in the first two decades of the current century, are reprioritising their operations now,” an executive with a top FMCG company said.
Digital Frontier
While Dabur has set up a Rs 500-crore investment platform to invest in digital-first businesses in India, Malhotra declines to specify whether some investments would be made in overseas D2C brands too as the company relooks at operations in international markets.
The global Ayurvedic products market is seeing rapid growth, valued at around $12-15 billion in size, with projections saying it will touch $50 billion by 2035. Driven by rising demand for natural, chemical-free, personal care and health supplements, the market is expanding at a compounded annal growth rate of over 12%. North America holds the largest share, with significant growth also driven by the Asia-Pacific region, according to experts.
With its products spanning precisely these categories (hair care, skin care, oral care and health supplements) and more including beverages, home care, baby care and foods, Dabur can leverage the potential emerging in international markets, experts said.
As Dabur looks to strengthen its international operations in the digital age, Malhotra says he has come full circle. “Growth is never comfortable,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post recently. “It demands that we challenge what we already know, embrace change and stay curious even when it’s inconvenient.”
That chapter begins now.