Nestle India, the Indian subsidiary of nestle is increasing the number of female employees as part of its gender diversity initiatives. Nestle India's workforce currently consists of approximately 23% women, according to the company's Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan.
"We moved a fair degree on this. When I came to Nestle India in 2015, at that time we were at about 15-16 percent. We have moved now to 23 percent," Narayanan told reporters at a virtual media roundtable.
Nestle India employs over 7,700 people and currently operates eight plants in the country, with a ninth set to open soon.
"That is not the end, we would like to do much better than this. And in fact last year in 2020, 42 percent of all the recruitment that we did within the company were women candidates and it is a trend that is continuing this year as well," Narayanan added.
Nestle's new plant in Sanand, Gujarat, where it will manufacture its popular instant noodles Maggi, will employ 62 percent women.
"One of the epitomes of diversity for the company would be getting commissioned in the next few weeks. Our factory in Sanand is almost near completion. 62 percent of the Sanand factory workforce would be women," he said.
Nestle will invest approximately Rs 700 crore in the Sanand plant.
Furthermore, Narayanan stated that Nestle India has invested approximately Rs 300 crore in increasing the capacity of its existing plants. This is part of the company's previously announced plans to invest Rs 2,600 crore over the next three to four years.
Nestle India has also proposed the government's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the food processing sector.
