It is not easy to take over the helm of affairs of a company which is in the eye of a major storm and steer it efficiently. United Spirits Managing Director & CEO, Anand Kripalu, is trying to do exactly that by navigating the company through controversies  surrounding the company’s chairman, Vijay Mallya, and its acquisition by the UK-based Diageo. In an interview with BusinessLine, Kripalu shares the journey of the company since Diageo took over and its vision. Excerpts.

You have taken over as the CEO of a company which is perhaps going through its toughest phase. How has been the experience so far?

It has been challenging and at the same time, a great learning experience. The first thing I did after taking over as the CEO was to align our performance ambition in line with the global performance ambition. So, our focus is on five strategic areas: The first is about unleashing the full value of our power brands which were under invested in the past. There were some brands which stood still in time; although many consumers had moved on, the brands felt, tasted and looked the same. Second, we worked on the route to consumer. In the past, it was mostly about pushing cases. They are important but you can’t add one case of Johnnie Walker with another case of Bagpiper; the math doesn’t work. We changed the mindset from pushing cases to unlocking value. What became important was how many stores we are winning in and how many are now Perfect Stores. The third was exploiting productivity and delivering cost savings across the value chain. Not just savings around travel costs but also about ensuring the product design is fit for purpose. The fourth is about becoming  trusted and respected. Our code of conduct is a living and breathing guide to doing business. Employees know the cost of not complying, and some have already paid the price. The fifth is creating a great culture and open communication. I hold quarterly town hall meetings. I often have lunch with groups of 15 employees across levels and we have an open conversation. That’s how I get a pulse of the organisation and have often heard good ideas and implemented them.

...but the fact that USL is the largest liquor company in the country, must have surely helped.

There is huge strength in this organisation which we are trying to retain. The challenge is to make sure the entrepreneurial and competitive edges that we have in USL aren’t lost. Having said that, I think if you go to the market place or to a retail store now, compared with say a year-and-half earlier, there has been a sea change. The look and feel of how our brands are displayed in the stores have changed. We are winning in more stores than we were doing earlier. Also, we are now attracting some great talent.  We have brought in flexi timings, work from home, cross-functional working, and have broken walls to create open seating that breaks down hierarchies. This company is in the midst of big change, big transformation. In many companies, people are resistant to change. But here, they have absolutely embraced the change.

Is whatever happening at the board level, impacting the morale of the employees?

I communicate directly and transparently with people on issues. Barring a few senior people who had to actually work on some of these things, on the operational side, everyone is kept completely insulated from whatever is happening at the board level. As a company, we are reasonably liberated to do what we are doing. As far as what is happening at the board level is concerned, I really can’t comment. Whether there will be a conversation or not, I can’t comment. Vijay Mallya is the Chairman and he chaired the board meeting last week. But nothing is coming in the way of what we have to do in the company. 

Being a CEO of one of the top FMCG companies in the country, how do you view the economic situation in the country?

I think the intent of the government is very strong but we are not seeing enough change on the ground particularly with respect to our own sector. I think there was a big opportunity to bring alcohol under the GST ambit. Apparently, there is so much alcohol outside the organised sector. GST provides trails and guarantees, simplicity and ease of doing business. USL alone contributed ₹35,000 crore as taxes last year. This is a big revenue generator and by not bringing alcohol and petroleum you are taking up the revenue neutral rate by a few per cent which is going to hurt consumers. So, rather than economics, I think it is more to do with politics (of not being part of the GST) than anything else. 

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