Procter & Gamble announces a Rs 400 Cr ‘India Growth Fund’ for innovation

Procter & Gamble (P&G) on Thursday announced a Rs 400 crore ‘India Growth Fund,’ which will focus on innovations and technology, keeping in line with the Indian government’s vision to make an Aatmanirbhar Bharat by driving inclusive growth in India through external partnerships.

The fund is part of P&G India’s ‘vGROW’ programme that aims to collaborate with startups, small businesses, individuals, or large organisations, offering innovative industry-leading solutions. 

Speaking about the investment, Madhusudan Gopalan, CEO, P&G Indian Subcontinent, said,

“In line with our commitment, we are setting-up P&G’s India Growth Fund to collaborate with partners on building capacities that will further localise the manufacturing of finished products, procurement of raw materials and packaging materials, and adopt innovative solutions that enhance our go-to-market technologies, which will enable us to serve our consumers in India. We are confident that through these partnerships we will be able to create an eco-system and supplier network that will further enable us to make in India, for India and the world.”

More than 95 percent of the products the FMCG major sells in India are manufactured locally. The company also exports finished products manufactured in India to over 120 countries, Madhusudan said.

P&G’s vGROW platform engages with over 2,300 Indian suppliers, including startups, small businesses, and large organisations from a wide range of industries and services — from creative agencies to technology partners, to material suppliers. 

Recently, it launched the third edition of ‘P&G vGROW External Business Partner Summit,’ where existing and new suppliers pitch their solutions to P&G’s leadership team. This year, in addition to localisation solutions, the summit also focussed on identifying solutions that revolutionise go-to-market capabilities, optimise inventory, and expand consumer reach of P&G brands. 

Further, its online platform ‘P&G Hackathon’ connects external business partners with innovative solutions to the company’s needs, thereby creating a collaborative ecosystem.