With the younger generation slowly coming into its own, the normally media shy Godrej Group directors are opening up about developments in their companies. In interviews to two financial papers, The Economic Times (ET) and Business Standard (BS) both Nisaba Godrej and Nyrika Holkar spoke about the conglomerate’s plans, while Godrej Enterprises Group (formerly Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited) chairman and managing director, Jamshyd Godrej stressed the importance on developing exports. Nisaba is Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Industries Group’s daughter while Nyrika is the daughter of Smita Godrej Crishna, Jamshyd’s sister.
From l: Nisaba Godrej, Jamshyd Godrej and Nyrika Holkar
"For the last 10 years, we have been gradually relocating our businesses out of Bombay,” said Jamshyd. "More than half of our manufacturing plants in the city moved out a decade ago, and the remaining ones are now starting to follow suit. Our appliance division had relocated to Poona and Mohali. Our storage solutions business, which manufactures racks and warehouses, over to Madras, and our lock manufacturing business has shifted to Goa. We also moved our furniture business from Vikhroli to a new campus at Khalapur, near Panvel. Our industrial business will move to Khalapur as well, leaving little behind in Vikhroli…
"Many of our older factory spaces were repurposed, and are home to IT firms and back-office operations.
"While we handle the construction and development of properties, Godrej Properties takes care of marketing…
"We do see a good amount of growth in export — for our consumer facing goods and industrial group,” said Jamshyd.
"We have consumer facing businesses and industrial businesses,” Holkar told the paper. "The consumer facing business will grow in a way the economy grows, and on purchasing power… The industrial will grow on infrastructure development… The idea behind repositioning was to give a stronger distinctive and ownable identity to the Godrej Enterprises Group of businesses and because also, given the diversity of businesses within the fold, we have to look at consumer first businesses (and) nation first businesses which are very diverse. The aim was to make the brand identity distinct for these businesses.” The refreshed identity introduces a purple color while retaining the cursive logo. The group announced a brand refresh strategy.
"We historically cater for the value market,” explained Holkar. "It’s still a very important market for us. But we have also pivoted our portfolio to provide more premium products from appliances, furniture and security locks because people are demanding that…”
Added Jamshyd, "Our core values remain integrity, trust, customer centricity, respect environmental stewardship and entrepreneurship…
"We do see a good amount of growth in export — for our consumer facing goods and industrial group.”
Chairperson of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) Nisaba told ET of December 10, 2024 that under its vision 2040 growth strategy, "We want GCPL to be a creative company, and that means having the chief designer working alongside the chief executive officer. You don’t tend to think of fast moving consumer goods like this. In industries such as fashion, movies, apparel or automobile, this comes from combining left and right brain thinking. Creativity isn’t typically prioritized by organizations and is often outsourced to agencies…
"Our current portfolio is well suited to our goals, supported by a blend of entrepreneurial spirit and organizational discipline… At GCPL, we put people and the planet alongside profit. I’m passionate about our reconstitution portfolio, which democratizes access to health and hygiene products while offering a ‘green discount.’ It’s a Western idea to remove a bit of plastic and sugar from products to meet goals. Innovating for green discounts serves consumers better, the environment and makes more money for GCPL. Less is more — less packaging and less things consumers don’t need — (then) costs come down and margins can be higher…
"At the leadership level, I’m proud that women hold 50% of seats on GCPL’s board.
"We believe diversity fosters innovation, strengthens business outcomes and reflects our global communities…”