Chairman & Managing Director – Nestlé India Limited

Mr. Suresh Narayanan has over 40 years of rich and exhaustive experience in the FMCG Industry and has held Senior Management and Top Leadership roles in leading global companies. He is on the Board of Directors of Nestlé India Limited from 1st August, 2015. Mr. Narayanan was Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Philippines prior to joining Nestlé India in 2015.

Mr. Narayanan was Managing Director of Nestlé Singapore Pte. Ltd., from 2008 to 2010. During his time, the overall business in Singapore witnessed sustained growth amidst the economic downturn. He was awarded the Medal of Commendation by the Government of Singapore in 2010, for excellence in employee relations during this challenging period. He moved to Nestlé Egypt as Chairman and CEO and Head of NEAR, where his initiatives resulted in significant business growth and investments despite the turbulence and volatility faced by the region at this time.

Mr. Narayanan joined Nestlé in 1999 as Executive Vice President for Sales in India, where he spearheaded major structural and strategic changes in Sales and Customer Management and set up the chilled dairy business. He moved to Nestlé Indochina in 2003, as Executive Director for Sales, Marketing and Food-Services, covering the countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Two years later in 2005, he returned to Nestlé India as Head of Sales for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. 

Mr. Narayanan began his career as a Management Trainee with Hindustan Unilever, where he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in Sales, Marketing and General Management.  He has also worked with Colgate Palmolive in India.  

Mr. Narayanan holds a master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and has a Diploma from the IMD Program for Executive Development. He was conferred with honoris causa, Doctor of Philosophy in Management by Bennett University, India.

He has participated in the Nestlé Leadership Program of the London Business School.  He has delivered talks at NASSCOM forums, various Corporates, NUS School of Business-Singapore, American University–Cairo, Columbia University, Army War College Mhow, Naval War College-Goa and Business Schools such as IIM’s, ISB etc. in India.

Mr. Narayanan was honoured at the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2017 as the Best CEO in the Multinational category.  He was recognized among “Most Valuable CEOs” in 2019 by Business World and also awarded “Best CEO – FMCG” for two years consecutively in 2019 and 2020 by Business Today. CNBC-AWAAZ awarded Mr. Suresh Narayanan as the Best Performing Leader for the MNC category in 2020. Mr. Narayanan was honored as the Entrepreneurial CEO at EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2020

Under his leadership, in 2019, Nestlé India won the “Best Governed Company Award for 2018” by Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability. Business Standard Awarded Nestlé India as the MNC of the year in 2020. In 2020 Business World Awarded Nestlé India for Best Financial Performance in the MNC Category and also bestowed ‘Purpose and Resilience’ Award 2020 and in 2021 Nestlé India was awarded Outstanding Company of the year by CNBC TV18 India Business Leader Awards (IBLA).In 2021 Mr. Suresh Narayanan was honoured amongst the Top 101 Male Gender Equality Champions Globally. Under Mr. Narayanan’s leadership Nestlé India recognized as ‘MNC in India of the year’ in 2022 by All India Management Association.