At Mondelez India’s Sri City factory in Andhra Pradesh, more than half the workforce is women. In a sector where women remain under-represented in technical and manufacturing jobs, the company has adopted an unconventional recruitment strategy by reaching out to high schools, identifying young women with potential and training them for the factory floor. The model is part of a larger effort to widen access to employment while building a skilled workforce. Venkat Venepally, vice president, Supply Chain at Mondelez India, in a candid interview with THE WEEK on the sidelines of signing an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government, spoke on the initiative, the company’s ₹1,800 crore expansion at Sri City, India’s evolving chocolate market and its global manufacturing ambitions.
Excerpts from the interview:
Why did Mondelez choose Sri City in Andhra Pradesh for its manufacturing investment? India is a vast country with several possible locations. What made Sri City stand out, and what support did you receive from the state government?
When we started looking for a location in 2013, we did not have a manufacturing facility in South India, although the region represented a significant market for us. We evaluated multiple locations before identifying Sri City as the right choice. The biggest factor was the infrastructure. Sri City offered everything at our doorstep, including utilities and power. The second was government support. The then chief minister extended considerable support and helped us start operations quickly, which was important because we were working against a tight timeline.
The availability of skilled manpower was another important consideration. Sri City was also close to port cities, giving us the flexibility to bring in raw materials and transport finished products across the country. These factors made Sri City an attractive destination compared with other locations.
Does this investment signal a larger shift in Mondelez’ global manufacturing strategy, with India emerging as an important production base for confectionery?
This facility is one of our biggest strategic sites, not just in India but across our Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region. The products manufactured here will cater to the Indian market as well as the wider region. At full capacity, it will become our biggest chocolate factory globally. That makes Sri City extremely strategic and critical to Mondelez, both for India and for our international operations.
Mondelez had announced an investment commitment of ₹4,000 crore in India between 2023 and 2026. How much of this investment has been deployed, and where is the money going?
That was a commitment we made, and we continue to honour it. The ₹1,800 crore investment currently being made in the next phase of expansion at Sri City is part of that larger commitment.
We have four manufacturing facilities across India, and we continue to invest in all of them based on where demand originates. However, Sri City has received a much larger share of the investment, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total.
Is there a sizeable premium chocolate market emerging in India? How do you see consumer preferences evolving?
As the econogmy evolves and consumer channels change, premiumisation is becoming increasingly important. Quick commerce, in particular, has transformed the way consumers discover and purchase products. This has created a significant opportunity for us to premiumise our brands.
Premiumisation remains a strong focus. Within our portfolio, the launch of Cadbury Silk was one way of taking the brand up the value chain. Our recent introduction of Biscoff in India presents another opportunity in the premium segment, alongside established brands such as Oreo.
Global cocoa prices have witnessed significant volatility, putting pressure on chocolate manufacturers. How has Mondelez managed this challenge?
It has been an extremely difficult period. Although cocoa prices are an external factor, we recognise that we have to manage such challenging situations. We have been able to navigate this phase without significantly impacting consumers. As prices have begun to stabilise, we have also been able to stabilise our operations and manage the impact. Throughout this period, our priority has been to ensure that consumers are not adversely affected.
Chocolate is often seen as an affordable indulgence. But rising input costs and changing health preferences could affect consumption. How do you see the Indian market evolving?
India is still at a very nascent stage in terms of per capita chocolate consumption. We have not reached the levels seen in some developed markets, which means there is considerable room for growth. Our focus has always been to ensure that chocolate remains an affordable indulgence. For more than 75 years, we have continued to serve Indian consumers through different economic cycles. We leverage our scale and eliminate inefficiencies across the value chain so that we can keep products affordable.
At the same time, we respond to evolving consumer preferences. There has been growing interest in dark chocolate, and we continue to expand our portfolio in this segment with Cadbury Bournville and Côte d'Or which we recently introduced in India. We also see premiumisation through products such as Silk and Biscoff.
Our approach is to cater to different consumer needs — whether it is affordable indulgence or premium products.
Mondelez India/Cadbury has been a market leader in India for decades, but local brands are increasingly entering the chocolate and snacking space. How do you view this competition?
The market is enormous, and per capita chocolate consumption in India is still at a nascent stage. There is room for everyone. We have been in India for more than 75 years, and one of our significant competitive advantages is the distribution infrastructure we have built over that period. For instance, even a small neighbourhood store that may not have a refrigerator often has a visi-cooler stocked with our products.
We have invested in this infrastructure for decades, which gives us an advantage over new entrants. At the same time, the entry of new players can help expand the category and encourage more consumers to try chocolate. We remain focused on staying competitive and growing our share in an expanding market.
What kind of skills will the next generation of food manufacturing jobs require, particularly as factories become increasingly technology-driven?
The nature of work is evolving continuously. Technology has transformed every industry, and the challenge is to keep pace with it. A few years ago, people might have shopped once a month; today, many shop every day. Supply chains have also become more complicated. Global disruptions, which were once relatively uncommon, have become much more frequent.
We need to adapt technology to respond to these changes. Artificial intelligence will influence not just IT jobs but manufacturing, logistics and almost every other profession.
The important question is whether we can keep pace with technology and use it to improve productivity and eliminate inefficiencies.
For us, technology is an enabler. We need to adopt it in ways that make our operations more productive. This is a requirement across
At Sri City, more than half the factory workforce is women. How did you achieve this, and why did you decide to recruit women directly from high schools rather than rely on conventional technical institutions?
One of the most distinctive aspects of our Sri City facility is its people. From the beginning, we had a clear aspiration to embed equality into the workplace while building a high-performance work system.
As part of that commitment, we ensured that women accounted for more than 50 per cent of the factory workforce from day one. This was a conscious decision. When we visit ITIs and diploma institutions, we find relatively fewer women. So we decided to recruit from high schools, where we could identify capable candidates and provide them with opportunities. Our employees are recruited at the high-school level and then undergo technical training and soft-skills development before moving to the shop floor.
Our workforce is entirely from Andhra Pradesh, with employees coming from different parts of the state. We have colleagues from districts such as Srikakulam and Vizianagaram, including towns that are not widely known. We work closely with high-school Principals and reach out to around 45 schools across the state. Our recruitment is spread across the northern, central and southern regions of Andhra Pradesh, ensuring geographical representation.
More than 50 per cent of our workforce at Sri City comprises women, and they are part of a factory that operates round the clock. Our objective is to provide opportunities to people who may otherwise find it difficult to access such jobs.
