Two months into his tenure, Procter & Gamble's first Indian-origin CEO makes his debut: committed to reshaping P&G

From February 16 to 20 local time, at one of the most influential top investor events in the global consumer goods industry—the New York Consumer Analyst Group Meeting—Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest FMCG company, made its appearance.

At the conference, P&G’s new CEO, who took office just this January and is also the first Indian-origin CEO, Shailesh Jejurikar, made his debut and delivered a speech, publicly sharing his latest plans for P&G’s future development. He is a veteran of 37 years at P&G, with experience in India, ASEAN, North America, and other regions. He has contributed across developed and developing markets and multiple business sectors. Before his current role, he served as P&G’s COO.

The “Daily Economic News” reporter noted that P&G’s disclosed Q2 FY2026 performance last month showed a 1% increase in net sales for that quarter. This steady but slowing growth report reveals the resilience of this 189-year-old giant, with nearly 580 billion RMB in annual sales, as it navigates cycles. It also exposes the increasing difficulty for P&G to expand relying solely on endogenous sales amid the complex global economic environment.

At this juncture, Shailesh Jejurikar shoulders a significant burden. In his speech, he mentioned three major changes facing P&G—media fragmentation, inflation, and retail landscape transformation—and proposed to “reinvent” P&G, which has already taken “urgent interventions,” emphasizing that P&G needs to be more focused and efficient.

With familiar brands like SK-II, Tide, Pampers, Always, Safeguard, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Rejoice, Crest, and Olay, P&G’s global net sales for FY2025 are projected to reach $84.3 billion (about 578.8 billion RMB), roughly flat compared to the previous fiscal year. Organic sales growth, excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and currency effects, is expected to be 2%.

The “Daily Economic News” reporter observed that despite record-high sales, this is a mixed blessing for P&G. Data disclosed by CFO Andre Schulten at the conference showed that P&G’s organic sales growth rate has been gradually declining in recent years—from 6-7% between FY2020 and FY2023, to 4% in FY2024, 2% in FY2025, and 1% in the first half of FY2026.

Chart: P&G’s Organic Sales Growth Changes in Recent Years Source: Conference Materials

“Adverse factors for FY2026 first half mainly concentrate in the US market. Outside the US, almost all regions saw growth or acceleration. Key markets (including Europe, America, East Asia) maintained flat organic sales, while other markets grew by 3%,” Schulten admitted. “Recent data fully reflect potential trends—weak consumer markets, fierce competition, and complex geopolitical environments.”

In Jejurikar’s subsequent speech, he reiterated the market challenges P&G faces: “In our operating environment, I want to highlight three major changes.”

The first is media fragmentation. “Capturing consumers’ attention and communicating our brand advantages is much more difficult than before. In today’s dispersed media landscape, consumers have more sources of information and more options to engage or withdraw.” Jejurikar recalled, “Ten years ago, when I was in P&G North America’s household care division, our new products could achieve about 30% consumer awareness within 6 to 12 months. Today, that awareness rate might only be in the high single digits. This is a significant change and challenge for every industry and marketer.”

The second is inflation in food, energy, healthcare, and many other expenditure areas. “This causes losses for consumers. Even wealthy consumers are more cautious with their spending. The way consumers evaluate affordability and value will continue to evolve.”

The third change is the retail landscape. “Consumers are shopping differently—using AI, instant retail, and more. In the US, channels like e-commerce and club stores are growing exponentially, while traditional channels are consolidating. Moreover, retailers are becoming media platforms, and media platforms are becoming retailers. In short, consumers’ purchase paths are changing daily—non-linearly, full of millions of potential disruptions.”

To address market changes and performance challenges, P&G has implemented “urgent interventions.” According to Jejurikar, this is part of P&G’s “long-term reinvention.”

He shared, “Our first intervention is to build deeper, more complete connections with consumers. ‘Consumers are the boss’—not just a slogan, but a belief that has shaped generations at P&G. Our current opportunity is to apply this belief more consistently and precisely, end-to-end. Every decision we make must be based on consumer acceptance, so we need to deliver excellent consumer experiences at every touchpoint.”

Jejurikar cited Pampers’ innovation in China as an example: “In response to Chinese parents’ desire to give their children the best, P&G launched the Pampers Luxury Series ‘Black Gold Pampers,’ inspired by China’s 2,000-year silk culture, incorporating silk ingredients into diapers, and conveying a sense of quality through unique packaging and tactile experience.”

“Redesigning Pampers’ ultra-premium series has driven double-digit organic sales growth in Greater China’s baby care division over the past 18 months, with market share increasing nearly 3 percentage points. This division has also become one of the earliest to achieve leapfrog transformation and lead growth in high-end and ultra-high-end markets,” he said.

The second intervention is transforming brand building—establishing consumer recognition of advertising, encouraging consumer engagement, and reducing the time and steps from touchpoint to purchase. Using Pantene’s innovation in Brazil and growth in the US personal care sector as examples, he analyzed: “A key reason for their success is early adaptation to the changing media environment, significantly increasing influencer marketing, user-generated content (UGC, ‘grassroots promotion’), and using AI to optimize ad creative and media placement.”

The third intervention involves establishing comprehensive partnerships with retailers across the entire value chain—P&G is not just in a traditional merchant role but leverages partnerships to co-develop business. For example, P&G’s collaboration with Walmart to offer exclusive products, activate traffic via Walmart’s app and broader social media, making the end-to-end value chain more efficient.

“Strengthening the core, expanding innovation”

Big players often face the challenge of “elephants turning around.” Confronted with “big company syndrome,” P&G, with nearly 80 brands across 10 categories, is launching a “leaner” transformation.

By mid-2025, P&G will begin a two-year restructuring plan aimed at strengthening its advantages and easing cost pressures. The plan includes cutting 7,000 jobs worldwide, about 15% of non-manufacturing roles, and possibly exiting certain markets, categories, and product formats. In 2024, P&G already divested the Sassoon brand and spun off some smaller brands in Europe and Latin America.

At the analyst conference, Jejurikar continued P&G’s past “focus” approach and introduced a new concept—“a stronger core and bigger innovation.”

The “Daily Economic News” reporter noted that this is a combined offensive and defensive strategy. On the defensive side, P&G needs a stronger core. Jejurikar explained, “One of P&G’s biggest strengths is our well-known brands and product portfolio, which is the core of our business. We need to ensure these core products and brands are healthy and growing. This strategy is especially effective in an era of dispersed consumer attention. For example, in limited-category channels like clubs or in e-commerce, consumers often only browse the first two pages of search results, so reinforcing core products and brands is crucial.”

The reporter observed that in today’s algorithm-driven era, the Matthew effect in online retail is becoming more pronounced—only best-selling items with high click-through and repurchase rates survive. In China, P&G’s core big sellers include SK-II’s “Facial Treatment Essence,” Olay’s “White Bottle,” Pampers’ “Black Gold Pampers,” and Safeguard’s liquid sanitary pads. These brands maintain stable household repurchase rates through continuous product upgrades and channel penetration, forming the cash flow backbone.

On the offensive side, larger innovation is needed. “When we create new products to meet emerging consumer needs, the market coverage must be large enough to justify significant marketing and distribution investments.” This means P&G is not just protecting its existing assets but spending wisely—innovating efficiently and precisely, reducing redundancy and waste. This is not only a short-term response to growth pressures but also a necessary choice for industry giants to maintain their competitive edge in a stock-competition era.

“External market changes are both short-term issues and long-term opportunities. Although the pace of change is rapid, we expect the next 3 to 5 years to see even more intense shifts. We will ultimately adapt and surpass these disruptions,” Jejurikar concluded.