New CEOs inherit a challenging first year

Better execution, more capacity utilisation top the agenda

- URVI MALVANIA & MAHESH NAYAK

A CLUTCH OF chief executives who took charge in 2025 is stepping into the corner office at a time when strategic choices are unusually constrained. Demand has recovered but not evenly, the competition is keen and investors are far less tolerant of long gestation bets. What makes these leadership transitions difficult is the absence of easy levers.

For these CEOs, the start is unlikely to be defined by sweeping vision statements. Instead, it will be shaped by immediate trade-offs: reviving volumes without leaning on pricing, monetising capacity built over the last cycle, and restoring confidence where leverage or governance concerns have weakened trust.

For Nestle India CEO, Manish Tiwary, the challenge is to push volume-led growth as he takes charge after several quarters in which growth was driven largely by price hikes. With commodity costs still volatile, the scope for further pricing action is limited, forcing a sharper focus on distribution expansion, higher throughput in existing categories and incremental penetration beyond top urban centres.

At the same time, the company must balance deeper rural and small-town reach with premiumisation efforts that protect margins, even as digital and AI-led efficiencies are embedded across the supply chain and go-to-market operations.