New Delhi: Food inflation shaped household choices in ways that went far beyond price, with families reconsidering pack sizes, buying frequency and category priorities in FY26, Nestle India chairman and managing director Manish Tiwary said on Friday.
The manufacturer of Maggi noodles, KitKat chocolates and Cerelac baby food is making deliberate bets on tier-2 and tier-3 markets, where consumption is rising faster than in metros, Tiwary told shareholders at the company's 67th AGM.
While terming FY26 a year of uneven demand patterns, a steep surge in commodity costs and geopolitical churn, Tiwary said the country's long-term potential remained resilient.
"There will be quarters that test and bets that don't pay off immediately, but that's the nature of building something that lasts," he said. Besides surging costs of fuel, oil and food, supply disruptions linked to the West Asia crisis have roiled economies globally through the first half of calendar 2026.
