MAM
Industry bids farewell to Andre Nair
MUMBAI: It was a farewell to remember for Andre Nair – outgoing chief of Group M in India. The heavyweights of the industry were there to wish him luck on the eve of his departure to Singapore where he will be taking charge of Mediaedge:cia Asia Pacific as its chairman and CEO.
They all turned up….
Peter Mukerjea & Harish Thawani Star India big daddy Peter Mukerjea and wife Indrani, SET India bossman Kunal Dasgupta, MTV head honcho Alex Kuruvilla, NDTV Media’s Raj Nayak, Chitralekha’s Bharat Kapadia, JWT India’s Mike Khanna, O&M’s Ranjan and Jimmy Kapur and Piyush Pandey, HLL group media manager (Central Asia) B Venkataramanan, Mediaturf’s V Ramani,
Mike Khanna & Nair saying their goodbyes Nimbus’ Harish Thawani, Zee TV’s new CEO Pradeep Guha, Discovery’s Deepak Shourie, IMRB’s Hemant Mehta, TAM’s LV Krishnan, Lodestar Media AsiaPac head Shashi Sinha, columnist Shobhaa De, HSBC marketing boss Sangeeta Pendurkar and Media Direction head Sandeep Tarkas, as also Sony’s Albert Almeida and Rohit Gupta.
And yes Nair’s team were there in full strength: CEO Ashutosh Srivastava, Vikram Sakhuja, CVL Srinivas, M Suku, LS Krishnan… the list goes on.
Andre Nair, Ashutosh Srivastava and Vikram Sakhuja with the cops
The highlight of the evening was, of course, Nair’s quick silver dancing on the floor. He even got Mike Khanna to do a jig with him, apart from getting close with his wife Aubrey. The pony tailed Mensa member actually donned an MTV Bakra cap for a large part of the evening. The cap came courtesy his being made a ‘bakra’ by Sakhuja and Srivastava, when he was accosted by two police men who came up to The Rampart Row in Mumbai’s plush Colaba area, with one mission – stop the evening and arrest Nair.
“Three Cheers!!!” Nair along with Ashutosh Srivastava
The fun went on for more than 20 minutes and the cops, Sakhuja and Srivastava were seen frantically trying to reach people on their phones, while Nair sweat it out in the middle surrounded by two cops, one with a ‘lathi’ in his hand.
Nair with wife Aubrey
They called off the action and had a good laugh as Aubrey looked concerned and told the team to call of the gag. Nair took it pretty sportingly and donned the cap.
The party rocked as it went on till the wee hours of the morning. Nair for one, is not going to forget his India innings any time soon.
Brands
Nestlé India posts 14.9 per cent sales growth, profit rises in FY26
FMCG major sweetens returns with dividend as strong domestic demand leads
NEW DELHI: Nestlé India has reported a strong financial performance for the year ended 31 March 2026, with sales and profits rising steadily on the back of robust domestic demand.
The company posted total income of Rs 231,949.5 million for FY26, up from Rs 202,645.5 million in the previous year, marking a growth of 14.9 per cent. Domestic sales remained the key driver, increasing 14.6 per cent to Rs 221,187.0 million, while exports contributed Rs 9,527.6 million to the overall tally.
The final quarter of the financial year added extra momentum, with total sales rising 23.4 per cent compared to the same period last year. This helped lift the company’s annual profit to Rs 35,446.0 million, up from Rs 33,145.0 million in FY25.
Shareholders are set to benefit as the board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 5.00 per equity share. This comes on top of the interim dividend of Rs 7.00 per share paid in February 2026. The record date for the final dividend has been fixed as 10 July 2026, subject to shareholder approval at the 67th Annual General Meeting scheduled for 3 July 2026. If approved, the payout will begin from 30 July 2026.
During the year, the company’s paid-up equity share capital doubled to Rs 1,928.3 million following a 1:1 bonus share issue, strengthening its capital base. The results were also supported by a Rs 1,207.8 million credit from exceptional items, including a Rs 2,023.2 million writeback from resolved income tax litigation, partially offset by restructuring costs and expenses related to new labour codes.
On the cost front, material costs rose to 44.8 per cent of sales for the full year, compared to 43.6 per cent in the previous year, reflecting ongoing input cost pressures. Despite this, the company maintained solid profitability, with EBITDA coming in at Rs 53,060.6 million.
Overall, Nestlé India’s performance underscores its ability to balance growth and margins in a challenging environment. With steady demand, disciplined cost management and consistent shareholder returns, the company appears well placed to carry its momentum into the next financial year.
