They moved sourcing from China to Europe and back to China as the pandemic spread. Our procurement folks did an extremely good job of trying to look at alternate supplies and onboarding them with speed. So we worked at localised levels, at state levels, and at central levels to try and restore our supply. On supply continuity, when we started seeing disruptions around mid-March. People feel safe and feel that the organisation cares. I think that's really paying good rewards because businesses bounced back. We took medical insurance covering more than 44,000 people to make sure they get protection for COVID-19 care. So that happened at the head offices, at the factories, but it's not only about your own people there were people who work in sales, many of who don’t work for us directly and like our distributors, suppliers. You take care of the people, and people will take care of your business. Phatak: During this pandemic, we had five clear priorities - people safety, supply continuity, demand generation, caring for communities, and protecting our business model, ie, managing cash and cost. How did you manage to maintain business continuity when the first wave of the pandemic hit? He shared how his team “followed the money” during the earlier months of the pandemic crisis, and his plans to steer the company toward competitive growth. Their retail partners, “kirana” (local grocery) stores, also played a crucial role in getting essential goods to neighbourhoods during the lockdown period and may continue to play vital roles in communities.įM magazine spoke to Srinivas Phatak, the CFO and executive director of finance and IT at HUL, to discuss his COVID-19 lessons and priorities for 2021. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a subsidiary of the global FMCG company Unilever and the maker of Dove soaps and Lipton tea, saw huge growth in online sales. In India, similar market trends are evident. Companies are revising their distribution strategies and product portfolios. E-commerce is becoming a norm as people choose to stay at home more. But the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry is seeing a steep growth in some segments this year as households are spending more on consumer packaged goods, health, hygiene, and nutritional products. Most countries are expected to see their economies shrink in 2020 with dampened consumer spending. To receive weekly updates on this series, sign up for our CGMA Advantage newsletter. Editor’s note: This article is part of “ A Year of Evolution: CFOs on 2021 ” series featuring insights from finance leaders across industries, and their COVID-19 lessons and 2021 plans.
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