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How Parle G tackled distribution challenges during lockdown

Published

6 years ago

May 22, 2020

MUMBAI: Distributing food supplies during a pandemic can be very challenging. While the central government has exempted biscuit manufacturers from the restrictions of the lockdown, Parle G was facing issues in some parts of the country as local authorities have not allowed transport of raw materials.

Animation Xpress.com organised a virtual roundtable conference on the theme ‘The changing dynamics of brands amid the pandemic’. The insightful discussion was moderated by indiantelevision.com founder CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. During the roundtable, Parle Products senior category head of marketing Krishnarao S Buddha spoke at length about the challenges faced while distributing Parle products during the pandemic.

Buddha says that post 20 March, April and May has been a roller coaster ride. At Parle, hand sanitisers are a small segment; biscuit and snack business formed part of the main business.

He says, “Since day one we were clear that most of the Parle products came under essential services. It was a very tough time till April; from May onwards we are relatively better.”

About the challenges the company faced while kick-starting the distribution pipeline and supply chain, Buddha said, “We formed a small combat team and the whole objective was to see how we can bring things back to normal. First and foremost, we spoke to our partners, contract manufacturers. There are ten mother units which are owned by Parle and 120 manufacturers spread across the country. So, the idea was to activate them; it didn’t really take a lot of time to do that.”

Convincing CnFs (carrying and forwarding agent) was very difficult. They were quite hesitant in the beginning as they believed the company was not doing a right thing by sending the out, when the entire situation is so scary. But somehow the company managed to get them working as well.

According to Buddha, the last and the most important leg in the business were distributors. According to him, initially they were not willing to step out. It took a lot of convincing and motivation, communication for maintaining hygiene. All guidelines were sent to manufacturing locations, CnF’s distributors, and most importantly, distributors to start functioning.

In the meantime, the company’s decision of giving away Rs 3000-crore worth biscuit packets was taken up really well by the government. It helped it get a lot of permissions to start their factories at 50 per cent capacity.

He added, “Forget about 50 per cent capacity we were struggling to get 20 per cent of our workforce. Most of the migrant workers have already gone away and we were struggling. Somehow, we managed to start our wheels in the factories and then the challenge was to get raw material and packaging materials. For example, we needed print ink for food lamination. So, we sent letters to vendors stating that Parle food is an essential part and it would require you all to provide raw material and packaging materials.”

The initial few days the company was struggling with 20 per cent of capacity, but today Parle is working with over 70 per cent of the capacity.

The next challenge was to get the transportation. He points out that the drivers were not willing to come; families were not willing to send them. They had to incentivise at every level. “So, we incentivised factory workers, transporters, and vendors to provide raw materials. They were not willing to go to the containment zones. Eventually over a period of time we overcame that,” he says.

The last leg was in the system of distributors, who were quite panicked about the whole situation.

Gradually, distributors started going out to the market. They were to cover about 60 shops a day. Buddha mentioned that their main focus was to safeguard their lives. Distributors were advised to maintain all the norms and guidelines: wearing masks, gloves and maintaining social distancing.

“There was reciprocation from our channel partners and another aspect was we asked our distributors for counter selling. People had started to hoard food due to the Covid2019 outbreak. By the end of March the shelves on the shops were empty. We thought there was so much demand because of people hoarding and buying stuff in panic. So we told our distributors to start calling retailers and take appointment orders and accordingly keep the stock ready.”

He added, “If they don’t do online payment, we told them to take an appointment in different time slots to collect the payment. So, it becomes much easier and much planned. That is how we overcome this whole situation.”

Parle G is bread and butter of so many people in India. To help the needy, Parle products started routing three crore packets to the government authorities. Buddha says, “It is not like we have done this for the first time. We sent truckloads of Parle products during earlier calamities also. We never speak about it, but now it is important to do. This enlightened the authorities, commissioners, and district magistrates. That is where things eased up.”

Related Topics:indiantelevision.com Krishnarao S Buddha Parle Products Parle-G Virtual Roundtable

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Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement

Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted

Published

4 days ago

February 4, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Nielsen is taking a fresh stab at one of television’s oldest blind spots: how many people are actually watching the same screen. The audience-measurement giant on February 4 unveiled a co-viewing pilot that uses wearable devices to better capture shared viewing, starting with America’s biggest broadcast stage.

The trial begins with Super Bowl LX on NBC on February 8, 2026, before extending to other high-profile live sports and entertainment events in the first half of the year. The goal is simple but commercially potent: count viewers more accurately, especially during live spectacles that pull families and friends to one screen.

The new approach leans on Nielsen’s proprietary wearable meters, wrist-worn devices that resemble smartwatches. These passively capture audio signatures from TV content, logging exposure to shows, films and live events without requiring viewers to sign in or self-report. In theory, fewer clicks, fewer lapses, better data.

Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s ceo, cast the move as part of a broader measurement push. He said the company’s task is to keep pushing accuracy as clients invest heavily in live programming that draws mass audiences. The co-viewing pilot, he added, builds on upgrades such as Big Data + Panel measurement, out-of-home expansion, live-streaming metrics and wearable-based tracking.

Co-viewing is not new territory for Nielsen, which has long tried to estimate how many people sit before a single set. What is new is the heavier integration of wearables and passive detection to reduce reliance on active inputs from panel homes.

For now, the pilot comes with caveats. Co-viewing estimates from the trial will not be folded into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings, which remain the industry’s trading currency. Instead, pilot findings will be shared with clients a few weeks after final Big Data + Panel ratings are delivered. Clients may disclose those findings publicly.

More impact data will follow later this year. Full integration into Nielsen’s marketing-intelligence suite is slated as a longer-term play, with a target of bringing co-viewing into currency measurement for the 2026–2027 season. This is only phase one, with further co-viewing enhancements planned beyond 2026 and additional timelines to be announced.

The push fits a wider pattern. Nielsen has in recent years expanded big-data integration, adopted first-party data for live-streaming measurement and broadened out-of-home tracking. It also positions itself as the reference point for streaming metrics through products such as The Gauge and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.

In a market where billions of ad dollars hinge on decimal points, counting who is in the room matters. If Nielsen can pin down shared viewing, the humble sofa could become prime measurement real estate. The race to count every eyeball just found a new wrist to watch.

Brands

Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

Published

1 week ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

MAM

Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

Published

1 week ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.

Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.

Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.