In FMCG, speed is strategy. Decisions made weeks late are revenue lost forever. Shelf space shifts. Consumer preferences change. Competitors react.
At Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), AI is not an experiment — it is embedded into sales, media planning, supply chain forecasting and shop-floor operations. Distributor replenishment is system-generated. Image recognition monitors shelf execution. Forecasting models factor in weather, promotions and competition in real time.
In this candid conversation, Vishal Gupta, Head – IT, India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products, explains how digital initiatives are delivering measurable P&L impact, why AI is reshaping FMCG execution at scale, and what it really takes to modernise a digital core without breaking the business
Some edited excerpts:
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) has positioned technology as a business enabler, not a support function. What are some of the recent impactful digital initiatives that have made a huge impact?
At Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), technology is not viewed as a support function but as a strategic enabler of business outcomes, deeply embedded in the organisation’s DNA. Our digital transformation strategy is anchored on three pillars: modernising and simplifying our digital core, leveraging data and AI for better decision-making and digitising processes to unlock speed and efficiency.
Modernisation of our digital core has been foundational in building a scalable, resilient and future-ready organisation. We migrated to the Azure cloud, followed by a seamless upgrade to SAP S/4HANA and subsequently brought our Africa business onto SAP, creating a single, integrated enterprise-wide digital backbone. In parallel, we are modernising our data platform and have standardised secondary sales systems globally.
On process digitisation, technology now touches every part of the value chain. For instance, distributor replenishment orders for over 1,500 distributors are fully system-generated, with no manual intervention, ensuring high fill rates, adherence to inventory norms and freeing up significant sales bandwidth.
In media planning, technology has fundamentally transformed how decisions are made in a complex and heterogeneous media landscape. The foundation of this change is MASH – an in-house media planning platform which allows for optimal deployment of media spends across various media vehicles. This has not just saved costs but also allowed us to make agile decisions in line with business priorities with reduced dependence on external agencies.
Additionally, our focus on data and AI is enabling GCPL to function as an intelligent enterprise, where decisions around media planning, pricing, promotions, sourcing and market execution are increasingly data-driven and delivering tangible P&L impact.
In a consumer business like FMCG, speed matters. What is the value of AI for a company like yours? What are some of the functions in which AI is playing a massive role?
In a fast-moving FMCG environment, the real value of AI lies in its ability to compress decision cycles, improve precision and enable action at scale. At GCPL, data and AI are central to how we respond to market dynamics with speed and agility.
AI is playing a significant role across multiple functions. In sales, AI-driven route optimisation, assortment recommendations and real-time analytics empower our 3,000+ field force servicing over a million outlets, improving on-ground agility and execution across general trade, modern trade and e-commerce channels.
In modern trade, AI-based image recognition tools help monitor physical shelf execution, while in e-commerce, data and analytics are used to monitor the digital shelf and improve the effectiveness of performance marketing spends.
AI is also deeply embedded in supply chain and planning, where machine learning models factor in seasonality, pricing, promotions, weather and competitive intensity to improve forecast accuracy. Similarly, pricing, promotions and sourcing decisions are increasingly algorithm-driven, ensuring speed while maintaining profitability guardrails.
Overall, AI enables GCPL to move from reactive decision-making to predictive and prescriptive actions, delivering tangible business impact across the value chain.
Sales productivity is often discussed, but hard to execute. What has actually moved the needle for GCPL’s sales teams on the ground? How are digital tools helping sales teams make better decisions in real time, especially across diverse and fragmented markets like India and SAARC?
What has truly moved the needle for GCPL’s sales teams is deep, practical digitisation of last-mile execution in both urban and rural markets.
We have geo-tagged our entire outlet universe, enabling scientific route planning, and identification of micro-market-level opportunities. A sales control tower provides real-time visibility into performance, supported by automated nudges that trigger immediate corrective actions.
Predictive analytics helps determine the right assortment at the right trade discounts for every outlet, maximising throughput per outlet. These interventions have directly improved productivity, outlet coverage and revenue per distributor sales representative.
In rural markets spanning over 6 lakh villages technology helps drive profitable expansion through data-led village prioritisation, optimised territory design and efficient sub-stockist placement. Real-time data enables sales teams to make better decisions on the ground, despite market diversity and complexity.
In your new greenfield plants like Tamil Nadu, how are Industry 4.0 technologies changing productivity, resilience, and decision-making on the shop floor?
GCPL’s Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu manufacturing plant is actively adopting Industry 4.0 technologies to drive productivity, quality and smarter decision-making.
The plants are being designed for cutting-edge automation and digitization which will significantly improve production efficiency. The plants are embracing Industry 4.0 technologies, including IoT for real-time data analytics, energy monitoring systems, vision systems for quality and safety, and AI and machine learning to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), enhance safety and enable faster, data-backed decisions on the shop floor.
AI and machine learning–based quality systems will enable automated defect-classification to instantly identify and flag deviations, long before a product leaves the production line.
In parallel, we are deploying an advanced supply chain planning platform to enable integrated end-to-end demand forecasting, production planning and distribution planning. Our ambition is to move towards a no-touch planning environment with management by exception, improving agility while reducing inventory days and supply chain costs.
SAP S/4HANA is often described as foundational but disruptive. What were the biggest mindset shifts required to modernize GCPL’s digital core?
Moving to SAP S/4HANA required a strong focus on simplification over customisation, standardisation over fragmentation and long-term scalability over short-term convenience. Equally important was change management. Every transformation initiative at GCPL is co-created with business leaders, with clearly defined outcomes and shared accountability. We focus not just on technical readiness, but on organisational readiness to absorb and sustain change. This ensures strong buy-in and alignment from the start.
The result is a simplified, resilient digital backbone that enables agility, supports global scalability and significantly reduces technical debt.
As Head of IT for India and SAARC, what are some of the key technology initiatives that you are excited about in the next six months to one year?
Looking ahead, some of the most exciting initiatives lie in scaling data, AI and automation for impact. We are accelerating the use of Generative AI to augment traditional machine learning models across demand forecasting, pricing and market execution, as well as in product innovation, consumer research and content generation.
We are also actively exploring agentic AI and autonomous systems to move beyond traditional RPA and unlock automation at scale while ensuring strong governance and human-in-the-loop controls.
On the execution side, we continue to invest in sales technology, especially across rural and emerging channels such as quick commerce. In supply chain and manufacturing, Industry 4.0 capabilities, digital control towers and smart planning tools are key focus areas.
Finally, cybersecurity, data protection and privacy will continue to be critical as digital adoption deepens, ensuring trust, compliance and business continuity across the organisation.