Podcasts

In this episode of Qunba, Sunil D’Souza, MD & CEO of Tata Consumer Products, sits down for a candid conversation tracing his three-decade journey across HUL, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Whirlpool and now the Tata Group. Known in industry circles as the “FMCG surgeon,” Sunil opens up about the foundational years that shaped him – from cutting bills in the Kanpur heat as a young HUL trainee, to landing in Hanoi with 8% distribution and half a million dollars of bad debt, to running bottling plants where the buck stopped with him. He shares the real story behind the cola wars, what made him take the leap from beverages to consumer durables at Whirlpool, and the Saturday morning call in San Francisco that eventually brought him to Tata.

Sunil also gets remarkably honest about leadership – why he’d pick 10 ordinary team players over one toxic superstar, the brutal feedback that changed how he communicates, the difference between being “fair” and being “nice,” and what he learned from N. Chandrasekaran about decisiveness. He breaks down what separates brands that last decades from those that fade, why India is a value market and not a price market, how AI will reshape decision-making for CEOs, and why a career is a marathon of experiences – not a sprint up the ladder. A masterclass in execution, humility, and building businesses that outlast individuals.