Cadbury Kraft India one of fastest growing operations for Kraft globally

MUMBAI: Chicago-headquarteredKraft Foods, which acquired Cadbury last January for $18.9 billion, is earning a double bonanza from British chocolate maker's Indian operations.

Not only isCadbury Kraft India one of the fastest growing operations for Kraft globally, revenues spurted by 40% in January-March 2011 quarter, the domestic business is proving to be a ripe hunting ground for talent.

Within a year-and-a-half of acquiring Cadbury, the $50 billion Kraft has picked up 21 managers for global and regional roles from the Indian affiliate.

These include Sunil Sethi director, sales, who has moved as general manager of Kraft Malaysia; marketing honcho Bharath Sastry has taken over as marketing director of Kraft Indonesia; Pravin Shetty from finance is now in Singapore as manager, business analysis; Mohit Wadhawan from logistics & customer operations too has a role in Singapore, as manager, manufacturing strategy; and Nikhil Rao from marketing has moved into a global role in chocolates in Zurich. In addition there are officials who are based in India but handling projects for other nations.

"Something like this has never ever happened in any other market wherever Kraft is present globally. And I think that it shows the commendable flexibility of Kraft to stick to its `best of both' strategy," points out Anand Kripalu, President, South Asia & Indo China, & Managing Director, Cadbury India. 'Best of both' refers to the Kraft-Cadbury combine's efforts to integrate the cultures, heritage and people of both brands.

On the brands front, that integration became visible recently when Kraft's iconic biscuits brand Oreo was launched in India under the Cadbury umbrella-something that hasn't been done in any other market.

Since the acquisition,Cadbury India has moved into two new Kraft categories - biscuits with Oreo and fruit juices and beverages with Tang. While Tang is manufactured at Kraft's Hyderabad plant, Punjab-basedBector Foods makes Oreo.