Mitigating risks
robustly

Risk

Agri commodities are subject to seasonal and market cyclicality. Volatility in commodity prices and availability can have an impact on our business, operations, and cash flows.

Mitigation plans

• Deployment of digital tools for better forecasting and trend analysis leveraging past years data repository.
• The commercial implications of commodity price movements are continuously assessed and where appropriate, are reflected in the pricing of our products.
• Strategic position building for key raw materials in Foods taken up during the year.
• Added alternate suppliers for Salt portfolio.

Risk

The relevance of existing brands, considering changes in consumer behaviour, is vital for sustainable growth of the organisation.

Mitigation plans

• We track consumer trends, which act as inputs for finalising marketing strategies.
• Redeploy savings from operational efficiencies as media investments to drive equity.
• Strengthening and focusing on core categories across geographies to build brand salience.

Risk

Being part of the Tata Group, it is paramount for us to maintain the highest standards of doing business.

Mitigation plans

• Being a multi-geography consumer major, we are subject to extensive laws and regulations, which are complex and constantly changing.
• Holistic compliance framework developed, and robust SOPs defined for quality checks with defined guardrails and deviation parameters for different geographies/ business units. In addition, audits are conducted by third parties and an in-house team from time to time.
• All our manufacturing facilities undergo regular food safety, Good Manufacturing Practices, and safety audits along with continuous monitoring and upgradation.
• A stringent Code of Conduct Policy, covering all our employees and business partners, is in place to ensure adherence with regulations and to conduct business with the highest ethical standards.
• For vendor due diligence, anti-bribery and corruption, a questionnaire is shared with vendors and is being re-administered every two years.
• Global Data Privacy Refresh plan is in place to examine the global personal information and sensitive data handling practices against the requirements of privacy laws across various geographies.

Risk

Holistic wellbeing is becoming an important priority and hence, consumer preferences are changing and shifting towards branded, health and wellness-focused products. The inflationary scenario also has an impact on consumer behaviour, particularly in international business.

Mitigation plans

• We believe in innovating for better. Our product and category innovations continue to address untapped and emerging consumer needs.
• During the year, we accelerated the pace of innovation across key categories with multiple launches/extensions within key brands.
• We are strengthening our A&P investments.
• We have deployed a dedicated innovation funnel for the next five years, which encompasses evolving changes in consumer preferences.

Risk

Existing capabilities may not be able to address the future targets and plans.

Mitigation plans

• We have implemented 100% Distributor Management System (DMS) and Salesforce Automation (SFA) to enable end-to-end visibility of secondary sales, distribution, and servicing levels.
• Outlet expansion with a focus on increased direct distribution.
• We have initiated ROI based Trade marketing (conditional spends) and ATL spends.
• During the year, our ‘Always on’ performance marketing approach has yielded strong alternate channel growth.

Risk

Increasing instances of cyber-attacks and data breaches.

Mitigation plans

• Our carefully designed architecture infrastructure is regularly benchmarked against NIST, CSA and other industry-leading standards.
• Access to cloud infrastructure is designed on Cloud Scale Zero Trust Network architecture of industry leading provider.
• We are carrying out multiple awareness sessions and have simulated phishing campaigns to strengthen user awareness.
• We scaled up proactive monitoring capabilities with Safe Security for the entire digital landscape, based on the industry standard of Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
• We have initiated cybersecurity KPIs measurement as per aligned NIST CSF guidelines.
• Periodic vulnerability assessments and penetration testing is carried out.

Risk

Inorganic expansion will have associated risk of compliances, technology, business delivery, values, and people/culture.

Mitigation plans

• In our growth phase, managing integration risk has been of paramount importance. Management has constituted a Business Integration team comprising subject matter experts from different domains, to plan, prepare, track, and monitor execution against predefined milestones and synergy benefits.
• Compliance registers are maintained for various licenses, contracts, reporting, among others.
• Employee engagement, role assignment, imparting training for inclusiveness and adoption of values and culture.

Risk

As a socially responsible Company, it becomes imperative to reduce our environmental footprint and meet stakeholders’ expectations, particularly relating to climate change, water security, packaging waste, and sustainable agriculture.

Mitigation plans

• Our sustainability strategy is centred on the pillars of ‘Better Planet’, ‘Better Sourcing’, ‘Better Communities’ and ‘Better Nutrition.’
• We have programmes to reduce energy consumption, increasing the use of renewable energy, circular economy and water stewardship.
• Increased focus on sustainable sourcing- partnerships with trustea and Rainforest Alliance.
• Financed climate change vulnerability and risk assessment studies in tea-growing areas in India.
• Tata Soulful products are based on millets, which are climate-resilient crops and they require lesser quantities of water and are high on nutritional value.
• CSR and Sustainability Committee are in place to assess and manage climate-related risks.

Risk

To realise our vision, it is important to attract and retain talent by appropriate succession planning and competency management to support business objectives.

Mitigation plans

• Initiatives in place to build a progressive culture and engaged workforce, spanning employee wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion, learning and development and career progression.
• Succession planning framework in place that continuously identifies and evaluates prospective external and internal talent. Benchmarked internal and external talent, facilitated by the creation of detailed succession profiles.