Expect India to be Among Amway's Top 3 Global Markets in 5 yrs: Country MD Rajneesh Chopra

Direct selling major Amway expects India to be among its top three global markets in the next five years, the company's country Managing Director Rajneesh Chopra said on Monday.

The company, which has invested $4 million (around Rs 35 crore) to set up four new research and development centres in India, is also looking to develop products to cater to Southeast Asian countries.

Amway has globally started looking at the overall landscape and the lens of business in a very different way. Instead of setting financial goals only, it is moving to transformation of lives, Chopra told PTI.

"We have five and a half lakh active distributors on our base right now. We have more than 2 million customers. Our goal is that 2 million moves up to 5 million over the course of the next five years," he said when asked how the company is looking ahead in India.

He further said, "We aspire that India becomes one of the top three (markets for Amway globally). We have some more work to do from that standpoint but India is poised to do that."

At present the top three global markets for Amway are China, the US and South Korea.

Asked when India can become among the top three from being among top ten currently, Chopra said, "The next five years is when I see us transforming the 5 million lives... and that will move us significantly in that direction..."

Bullish on the potential of the Indian market, he said, "65 per cent of people have lifestyle diseases, 85 per cent don't even have a nutritious breakfast, 80 per cent don't necessarily embrace nutrition the way it should be, and then you have 70 per cent more people having gut health problems."

He further said, "so when you look at all of this in the backdrop, I think our product portfolio is poised to help people move in that direction."

India has the highest potential to grow, he said adding the country has "the highest potential to be in the top three and not only for our nutrition, but even for our beauty segment".

On the R&D front, Chopra said Amway's investments on the four new labs will accelerate the company's product development capabilities enabling it to better serve the unique and evolving needs of consumers and businesses in India and around the world.

"India stands as one of our top priority markets globally and this investment underscores the confidence of Amway Global in the country's expertise and potential to drive groundbreaking innovation in the health and wellbeing space," Chopra said.

The four labs at Gurugram, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Dindigul (Tamil Nadu) are equipped to develop product solutions in foods, oral solids, beauty and personal care segments with premium botanical ingredients for nutrition and skin applications, the company said.

Amway Director, Innovation and Science, India and Southeast Asia, Shyam Ramakrishnan said, "Having an innovation hub in India allows us to harness the incredible Indian talent pool and support the country's ambition to be a meaningful and significant contributor to overall wellbeing."

He said labs in India will also play a key role in developing products, including beauty, for markets in the Southeast Asian region.

"We're leveraging top talent in India and around the globe to develop differentiated nutrition, food, and beauty products. These products are focused on India and Southeast Asia and possibly for other global markets," Ramakrishnan added.

Chopra said Amway India is trying to play its part in the government's Make in India initiative by exporting to Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines to and South Africa while also continuing to explore other opportunities.

"The exports that we started talking about are a step in that direction too... We are committed to ensure that we continue to put India's footprint as much as we can without losing focus on what is true for India," he said.

When asked about issues faced by Amway India with investigative agencies, Chopra said, "We are constantly in dialogue to ensure that people understand who we are and what our business model is and how we conform our commitment has always been."

He further said, "I would say that we would do everything to conform to the laws of India and to ensure that we are meeting 100 per cent compliance." Chopra said Amway operates in 100 countries and territories and "our commitment has always been that we will conform to the laws of the land".

Last year, the Enforcement Directorate had accused Amway India of generating 'proceeds of crime' worth more than Rs 4,000 crore and a substantial part of it was siphoned off to overseas bank accounts.

However, the company had maintained that the matter was related to investigation dating back to 2011, and since then the company has been cooperating with the department.