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<ul><li>Cargill is the maker of brands like <keyword id="944872" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="naturefresh" source="Orion">NatureFresh</keyword>, <keyword id="6358520" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gemini" source="Orion">Gemini</keyword>, <keyword id="175574" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sweekar" source="Orion">Sweekar</keyword> and Leonardo.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="5222174" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="piyush-patnaik" source="Orion">Piyush Patnaik</keyword>, Managing Director, Cargill oil business in India about the pandemic's impact on their business and how they are working towards creating a portfolio of products that caters to the rapidly changing consumer needs.</li></ul>It was in 1987 that US-based Cargill entered India. In the last 34 years, the maker of brands like NatureFresh, Gemini, Sweekar and Leonardo is now further diversifying after listening to its consumers and working on coming up with a range of bakery products. There has also been a visible move towards healthier offerings. Even before the pandemic hit us, Cargill had started its journey of healthifying its products, which has worked in its favor in the last 1.5 years. In a recent chat with Piyush Patnaik, Managing Director, Cargill oil business in India, we tried to understand how things have been for the brand since the pandemic and the lockdown, what their outlook is for the upcoming festive season and how they are working on bringing in the next phase of growth in India. Excerpts: Q) The last 18 months have been difficult for businesses the world over. What kind of an impact did the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have on your business? There are three parts to our business, one goes into households through traditional channels. We also have a large presence in food services, essentially for out-of-home consumption. And the third part of our business is supplying to our large B2B players. The last 18 months have been tough. However, it was a mixed bag for the overall business. For the consumer retail business, it was a tailwind but for the food service business, it was a clear and massive headwind. For the B2B segment, it was a mixed bag. The challenge was more on the operations side. However, due to the kind of portfolio we have, there was still consumption and we had less reasons to complain about than a lot of other players in the segment. Q) What do you think are a few factors that helped you sail through, relatively unscathed? As a company, we are very resilient. Our risk management processes, that have been built over 150 years, are a part of our core strength. During those difficult times, our supply chain never got disrupted. Secondly, we have clear market leadership in certain markets and it was easier to get back on track there. That helped the overall business. Thirdly, we took a few steps from our team’s side that really helped. For example, we were all operating in difficult environments, through a certain set of policies, we tried to facilitate movement of our people, additional safety measures for our teams and that helped us get back to the market faster than many of our competitors and we could get into deeper markets sooner. So it was a combination of our structural risk management practices built over years, our strong financial strength and the fact that we didn't have any break in our supply chain during this tough period. Q) What sort of a growth trajectory were you on before the pandemic hit? Are you back to pre-pandemic numbers? No, we are still not back to pre-Covid numbers but we are on a positive trajectory. We were in the typical FMCG growth bracket before Covid, and there has been a slowdown. We expect growth to kick in as we get into the festive season. Q) So you expect a good festive season this year? We definitely expect good demand in the festive season this year. We can already see green shoots of that in some markets. Also, the trade is very clearly positioning itself for higher throughput over the next four to six weeks. Q) The pandemic led to very rapid changes in consumer behavior. How did that reflect on your offerings? Did you come up with new products to cater to this changing consumer behavior? We were very lucky on that front. Over the last few years, there has been a massive conversion from loose, unpackaged products to packaged products across all categories and edible oil was ahead of the curve. Other than that, there has been a clear demand for healthier everyday food products. Covid amplified both trends across the staples category. Just around the time Covid hit, we had launched a few products like Gemini Rice Brand Oil and NatureFresh Acti Heart, which were healthier offerings. Both these products benefited from the trends. The fact that our <keyword id="12272720" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="naturefresh-atta" source="Orion">NatureFresh Atta</keyword> is positioned around high fiber again got traction. Since we have been talking about the importance of health in everyday life for Gemini, NatureFresh and <keyword id="12272721" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="leonardo-brands" source="Orion">Leonardo brands</keyword>, we could clearly see traction. Another change we witnessed was that indulgence moved home. We saw a lot of nice consumer interactions and uptake increase for heritage brands like <keyword id="6358640" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rath" source="Orion">Rath</keyword> and <keyword id="1481404" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sunflower-vanaspati" source="Orion">Sunflower Vanaspati</keyword>, products that are traditionally used either during festivals or for out-of-home consumption, for making sweets and Indian delicacies. And the fact that the government is slowly moving towards create awareness around trans fat reduction is also helping. We’re seeing a newfound attraction towards traditional fats which has been really helpful in the last 18 months. Q) Has this movement towards packaged products been faster in smaller cities? A lot of growth in the area is being driven by smaller cities. We are seeing faster conversion in Tier III and IV cities. Q) You have had a bakery ingredients business for a while now. Since the lockdown encouraged people to turn bakers at home, did you see any increase in demand? Our bakery goods were designed for large bakery goods customers like biscuit players. It used to be more B2B but over the last five years, we have built a nice business around NatureFresh professional portfolio of bakery ingredients which plays into the street corner artisan bakers. Today, we reach about 5,500 bakers daily. Since a lot of these shops stopped operating in the last 18-24 months, people wanted to have fresh freshly baked products at home. We had a product called <keyword id="10285577" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="naturefresh-professional-lite" source="Orion">NatureFresh Professional Lite</keyword>, a multi-purpose specialized pack for making cookies and cakes. We put it on e-commerce and saw a lot of traction. Wizened by that experience, we are now creating a larger basket of portfolio for the homemaker segment. The segment is witnessing phenomenal growth but it is still a very small percentage of our overall business. However, it seems like the growth is here to stay. Q) Usually a crisis leads to a cut in marketing and advertising budgets. How was it for Cargill? We are a bit of an outlier there. We have significantly expanded our communication projects, we are not looking at reduction, rather we are looking at increasing our investments, both across the Gemini and NatureFresh portfolio. As brands that are a part of people’s everyday lives, this is the time for increased conversations. We are doing multi-pronged conversations. Of course electronic media continues to stay the most relevant for larger reach, but we're amplifying it both through Digital and now through Print too. Q) How are you expanding your reach and going deeper into the country? We are expanding in two ways. We have expanded our manufacturing capacity significantly over the last 18-24 months And even during this period, we have expanded into many new towns within the geographies we operate in. Of course, we will keep expanding our product portfolio too.

Here’s how Cargill is listening to its consumers and coming up with products to best cater to evolving consumer needs

New Delhi, Jan 9 () Unfazed by projections of GDP growth slowing to an 11-year low in the current fiscal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and it has the capacity to bounce back.
 Modi, who seems to have taken charge of the efforts to revive the economy, has over the past few days held as many as 12 brainstorming meetings with different stakeholders over various issues affecting the economy and to thrash out appropriate policy interventions in the upcoming Budget.
 On Thursday, he met economists, private equity and venture capitalists, business leaders and agri experts at Niti Aayog and called for focussed efforts from all stakeholders to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024.
 "We must all work together and start to think like a nation," an official press statement quoted him as saying at the meeting.
 Modi has been devoting a considerable amount of time in personally overseeing the policy matrix aimed at engineering a quick turnaround of the Indian economy, which is estimated to grow at 5 per cent in 2019-20, significantly lower than 6.8 per cent growth rate last fiscal and the lowest pace of GDP growth for a full financial year since the global financial crisis in 2008-09.
 At the pre-Budget meeting at Niti Aayog, Modi called for a focussed effort from all stakeholders in order to achieve the target of USD 5 trillion economy, the statement said.
 The prime minister said he was happy that the two-hour open discussion has brought to the forefront the experience of people on the ground and those working in their respective fields.
 This, he said, would enhance the synergy between policymakers and various stakeholders.
 The idea of USD 5 trillion economy is not a sudden development and is based on a deep understanding of the strengths of the country.
 "The strong absorbent capacity of the Indian economy shows the strength of basic fundamentals of the Indian economy and its capacity to bounce back," he said adding sectors like tourism, urban development, infrastructure, and agri-based industry have a great potential to taking forward the economy and for employment generation.
 He said open discussions and brainstorming in such forums lead to a healthy debate and understanding of the issues.
 This would also foster a positive mood and "can do" spirit in the society, he said.
 According to sources, the participants urged the government to focus on credit expansion, exports growth, governance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), increasing consumption and job creation. As many as 40 experts and economists attended the meeting.
 Modi assured them that he would act on suggestions that can be implemented in the short-term and also consider long-term suggestions in due course as these require structural reforms.
 In a tweet, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said the meeting "discussed a wide range of issues relating to economic growth, startups &amp; innovation."
 The high-profile meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal besides Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and other senior officials of the think-tank.
 Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, too was present at the meeting.
 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present, as she was holding pre-Budget meetings with party workers at BJP headquarters.
 The Niti Aayog meeting assumes significance as the government is in the process of formulating Budget proposals for 2020-21. The government's focus will be on accelerating economic growth, which is estimated to slip to an 11-year low of 5 per cent during 2019-20.
 The prime minister on Monday interacted with top business tycoons to discuss the issues facing the economy and measures needed to boost growth and create jobs.
 Among others, the Niti Aayog meeting was attended by NIPFP economist Ila Patnaik, former chief economic advisor Shankar Acharya, IGIDR Professor R Nagraj, KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar, Ather Energy Co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta, MakeMyTrip CEO Deep Kalra, Dabur India chief Mohit Malhotra, Bandhan Bank MD and CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh and CRISIL MD and CEO Ashu Suyash.
 Sitharaman will be presenting her second Union Budget on February 1.
 A key factor driving the sharp slowdown in Indian economy is the manufacturing sector slump.
 In response to the slowdown, the Reserve Bank has eased policy rates significantly during 2019, with a series of rate cuts since February 2019, while the government announced a large reduction in corporate tax rates in September in order to help boost new investment spending.
 The February 1 Budget is widely expected to unveil more measures to boost growth. BKS CS ANZ ANU

PM Modi says fundamentals of Indian economy strong, has capacity to bounce back

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Some of the biggest names from the startup ecosystem are in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIM Bangalore</a> campus today, either giving speeches in the auditoriums or judging competitions and providing mentorships within closed doors to startups and students from across the country, as the ninth edition of their National Annual <keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship</keyword> Summit ‘Eximius’ kickstarts. 
 
The summit themed ‘The Time Is Now’ has names like P Chidambaram, Kunal Kapoor, Devdutt Patnaik among others associated with it, and this extravagant show has been put up by The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cell in association with the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIMB</a>. 
 One look at the array of events shows that like every year, this year too Eximius USP of holding the event is to get the biggies under one roof and encourage students from across the country with failed start-ups or who aspire to have startups, to be able to meet investors like <keyword id="720079" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="IvyCap-Ventures">IvyCap Ventures</keyword> and Shark Tank during competitions or mentorship sessions. The exchange of ideas will enable these students to be better prepared before they take on the entrepreneurship journey. The competitions will have participants solving a range of problems faced by start-ups and entrepreneurs in marketing, operations, finance, sustainability and fund-raising. Several online and on-the-spot events such as quizzes and simulation games mark the event. 
 
Eximius is featuring at least 150 start-ups and in over 30 events, and Business Insider is in the campus to cover some of the best sessions. Here’s a sneak peek into what is unfolding at the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IIM+Bangalore&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IIM-B</a> campus: 
 
Speaker List: Eximius 2016 will host eminent speakers including P Chidambaram (former Finance Minister of India); Duvvuri Subbarao (former RBI Governor); Dr Jacob Crasta (Prime Minister's SME Council); Dr P Namperumalsamy (Padma Shree Awardee, Chairman, Aravind Eye Care); Dr <keyword id="160324" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Devdutt-Pattanaik">Devdutt Pattanaik</keyword> (bestselling author); Shradha Sharma (Co-founder YourStory); Sujayath Ali (Co-founder CEO Voonik); Kunal Kapoor (actor and co-founder Ketto.Org); Mukesh Singh (co-founder &amp; CEO Zopnow); Piyush Mishra (actor) and Anshu Gupta (founder Goonj). 
 
Flagship events 
Bzzwings: Bzzwings, the business plan contest, encourages individuals to conceptualise, ideate and take the plunge. Winning teams will get incubation at IIMB’s NSRCEL. Prizes worth Rs. 40 lakh will be given away in this contest. 
 
Fast Forward: Fast Forward is targeted at business ideas built around information technology that can impact millions and start a revolution. It offers exclusive mentorship to selected teams. The winners of Fast Forward will get prizes worth Rs. 2.5 lakh. 
 
The Other Incentive: The event is aimed at promoting and supporting social entrepreneurship. This is for ideas where revenues and bottom-line profits are hygiene factors and social impact is the key measure of success. The event is being organised in association with Villgro, a leading social incubator. Social entrepreneurs could win an incubation opportunity of up to Rs. 65 lakh from Villgro and prizes worth Rs. 80,000. 
 
The Game of Clicks: The event bridges the gap between students and start-ups. In this marketing challenge, teams compete in real-time for digital marketing. It gives students the opportunity to collaborate with start-ups to develop their marketing strategies. Each student team works closely with a start-up to develop and implement its digital marketing strategy over a period of three weeks. The winning teams get a chance to win prizes worth Rs. 50,000. 
 
Wipro Earthian Sustainability Quiz: Governments, organisations and leaders across the world are thinking about sustainability. Eximius 2016 will present the Earthian Sustainability Quiz in association with Wipro, based on sustainability and the environment. Prizes worth Rs. 1.1 lakh are to be won. 
 
Bootcamp Kiosk: Early stage start-ups can showcase their business models and company goals at the Startup Bootcamp. The bootcamp will give start-up founders the chance to demonstrate their vision to a captive student community of future business leaders and entrepreneurs. Additionally, start-up founders will get a chance to imbibe key lessons from industry veterans and investors. 
 
Workshops: This year the bootcamp workshops will be conducted by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IBM&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IBM</a>, Greg Maron (co-founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Zoomcar&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Zoomcar</a>) and HeadStart Network, India’s leading community for start-ups. The workshops will cover diverse themes such as innovative business models, leveraging start-up ecosystems, start-up marketing, scaling and building an empowered venture. 
 
<a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/insideiim/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/26020014/IIM-Bangalore.jpg">Image Source</a>

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