Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and MD, Nestle India, during Business Today Mindrush event 2019 on Friday, said the company was in the process of setting up its ninth Maggi noodles factory in Gujarat, where it would invest over Rs 700-800 crore.

While talking about the major issue the company faced after the Food Safety & Standards Authority (FSSAI) banned Maggi noodles in June 2015 over allegations of containing lead over the permissible limit and mislabelling issue, Narayanan said the company looked at it as a re-calibrating or rejigging opportunity. "I have announced a few months back the 9th factory coming up in Gujarat, for Maggi noodles, investing about Rs 700-800 crore, creating about 400 jobs, about 50 per cent of that will be for women."

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Asserting that India might be going through a slowdown, but it's certainly not doomsday. Narayanan said that consumption might have dropped from 11-12 per cent to 7 per cent, but the roof hadn't fallen. "I am optimistic about the Indian economy. It may not be a quick fix, but it's certainly not doomsday."

Nestle MD Narayanan said that good brands focussing on essentials such as great quality product and distribution had no reasons to face any kind of trauma. "Indian consumers are asking for brands and quality. A bulk of my growth is coming from tier-2 and tier-3 towns." He also talked about selling 2,000 Nescafe machines over the last few quarters and this happened not in metros but 600 towns.

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Edited by Manoj Sharma