Dear Reader,

Greetings. The bottomline for any company's corporate strategy is to make a profit from its business, be it manufacturing or trading. Very few companies feel it imperative to have an inbuilt social conscience or a sense of social responsibility. But there are exceptions, and among the most striking is Nestle SA of Switzerland, the world's largest processed foods company, whose commerce blends beautifully with the well-being of communities surrounding the locations where it operates. It's much beyond the usual corporate philanthropy. May be Nestle's sensitivity to suffering in one's surroundings has percolated down from Henri Nestle, the company's founder, who developed the world's first infant milk food as far back as in 1867 and helped save the life a neighbour's baby. Today, Nestle operates almost in every country, including India, employing a huge work force of 250,000 worldwide and manufacturing about 8,000 food products to meet the requirements of billions of consumers. Nestle's connection with India dates back to 1912 as a trading company, importing and selling finished milk products. About 14 years after India gained independence, Nestle set up its first plant at Moga in Punjab in 1961, to help develop India's milk economy. Realizing fully well the potential for growth in an agricultural economy, Nestle expanded its operations across the country putting up seven plants in the last four decades, producing a variety of foods. These range from milk and nutrition products, beverages, ready-to-eat delicacies and a variety of chocolates. What is most important about Nestle operations in India is that it has facilitated direct and indirect employment to about one million people, including a large number of farmers and suppliers of raw materials. The company has brought professional dairy farming methods, scientific crop management to the locations where it operates. Then there are other services such as providing clean drinking water, setting up veterinary services or funding medicines at a tuberculosis hospital. Nestle India is a model company, whose commercial operations, to quote its CMD Martial Rolland, “are well woven into the social and economic fabric of India.” The cover story in Indo-Swiss Business is Nestle India, which also touches the parent company's worldwide operations. The focus of the issue is on the Swiss chocolate industry, unique and unrivalled in its product range and worldwide appeal. We carry a report, which says that the industry is optimistic about a rise in its exports as well as a revival of domestic demand. The Swiss are a health-conscious people and a quite “wellness culture” is sweeping Switzerland, with demand perking up for vitamins, diet supplements, natural foods and remedies. We carry a report. The Swiss are strong in machinery manufacture, electrical engineering and the metals industry. We offer a UBS study which details the opportunities existing for Swiss capital goods exports, especially in the East. Besides all these, we present our other regular features, such as Swiss news.
Wish you happy reading

Satya Swaroop
Managing Editor
satya@newmediacomm.biz