For Nestle, India a growth outlier across markets

In a rare acknowledgment of India's role as a strategic growth driver, Nestle SA, the world's largest packaged foods maker, highlighted India as a key growth market in its half-year earnings announced on Thursday.

"In Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA), growth was positive across most geographic markets, reflecting strong execution and market momentum. Highlights included double digit real internal growth (RIG)-led growth in India, the Central & West Africa Region and Indonesia," Nestle SA said in a management commentary.

"Emerging markets growth accelerated, and we delivered solid performance in developed markets. While the external environment remains uncertain, we are taking actions to accelerate consistent growth," Philipp Navratil, Nestle CEO, said in an earnings statement.


For the first half ended June 30, 2026, Nestle SA reported sales of $52.9 billion, compared with about $54.3 billion a year earlier, a decline of 2.5% year-on-year. The company cited pressure on volumes in North America, though it raised its full-year organic sales growth outlook to 3-4% from its earlier target of around 3%.

On Wednesday, the India unit of the maker of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolates reported a 48% increase in consolidated net profit for the June 2026 quarter to ₹959 crore, driven by volume-led growth and higher investments across categories.