As India’s FMCG sector surges toward a projected $220 billion market size by 2025, the integration of technology has become paramount in reshaping traditional sales strategies. In an interview with Tech Achieve Media, Rachit Vohra, Senior Director of Sales at Kellanova India, shares how the company leverages AI to optimize assortments and enhances efficiency using geo-tagging for intelligent market expansion. Vohra also highlights how Kellanova is bridging the urban-rural divide and redefining in-store execution. By embedding technology into its operational DNA, Kellanova is not just responding to market complexities but is actively shaping the future of FMCG sales and distribution in India.
TAM: With India’s FMCG market projected to hit $220 billion by 2025, how are technological advancements reshaping sales strategies across the industry, and where do you see the greatest opportunities?
Rachit Vohra: The Indian FMCG landscape is undergoing a tectonic shift. From being a traditionally feet-on-street driven sector, we are now seeing a clear convergence of tech and human intelligence. At Kellanova, we’ve embraced this inflection point by embedding technology into the DNA of our go-to-market strategy.
Our digital transformation began with redefining how we plan, execute, and measure our field operations. Tools like geo-tagging, beat optimization, and AI-assisted suggestive selling have not only improved outlet coverage but also ensured sharper execution at the last mile. More importantly, we are able to draw actionable insights from every transaction, every visit.
As an industry, the real opportunity lies in leveraging digital tools to bridge the urban-rural divide. With increasing mobile penetration and data availability in rural markets, there’s untapped potential in deploying digital-first models to unlock growth in Tier 3–5 towns. Another massive opportunity is talent enablement, through gamified learning apps and analytics dashboards, frontline teams are evolving into solution-driven consultants rather than transactional sellers.
TAM: AI is becoming a game-changer for sales optimization. Can you discuss how tools like Suggested Order Modules are impacting efficiency, and what broader potential do you see for AI in FMCG sales?
Rachit Vohra: AI in sales isn’t just a buzzword; it’s becoming a lever for business transformation. At Kellanova, we’ve implemented our Suggestive Order Module (SOM) to address one of the most fundamental yet complex sales challenges: getting the right assortment into the right outlet at the right time.
This module, powered by AI and integrated into our Distributor management system, dynamically recommends SKUs based on outlet-specific purchase history, seasonality and location trends. The result? Reduced order gaps, improved fill rates, and higher repeat sales. We’ve seen a measurable uptick in order efficiency and assortment relevance positively impacting waste reduction.
From an industry standpoint, AI is set to rewire how we think about everything from territory design and route planning to promotions. We’re already piloting ML-led budgeting tools that optimize trade spends and predict promotional impact with a level of accuracy that was simply not possible before. Long term, I see AI becoming an intelligent co-pilot, guiding frontline teams in real time, making them sharper, faster, and more aligned with business objectives.
TAM: The adoption of sales force automation apps is accelerating. How has Kellanova’s “Mobility” app enhanced frontline productivity, and what lessons can the ecosystem draw from such tools?
Rachit Vohra: Sales force automation today is not a nice-to-have, it’s foundational to driving agility and accountability in the field. At Kellanova, our “Mobility” app has become the digital backbone of our frontline operations. It enables DVSMs to plan their day smartly, access outlet-specific insights, place orders seamlessly, and track execution in real time. It’s streamlined how we operate, giving managers full visibility while allowing reps to stay focused on selling, not admin.
What makes Mobility effective is its integration with our broader tech stack and its user-first design. It doesn’t just digitize, it empowers. For peers across the FMCG ecosystem, the key takeaway is to ensure that automation tools deliver insight-led action. Adoption will only follow when tools help your teams sell better and faster, not just track activity.
TAM: Expanding distribution in India’s diverse market is complex. How are technologies like geo-tagging and machine learning addressing these challenges, both for Kellanova and the broader retail landscape?
Rachit Vohra: India’s retail landscape is incredibly heterogeneous, with varied store formats, stocking behaviours, and shopping missions. Navigating this complexity demands more than scale, it requires smart, adaptive systems. That’s where geo-tagging and machine learning have been pivotal for us.
Through our Smart Beat Optimization model, we’ve geo-mapped over 12 lakh outlets and categorized them based on performance. Using ML, we’ve built differentiated visit frequencies, our weekly and bimonthly hybrid routes, ensuring that high-potential outlets get the right share of attention. This has allowed us to unlock 20% more direct reach in new outlets in 2024, without expanding our sales force.
What this shows is that the future of distribution isn’t just about expansion, it’s about intelligent expansion. For those operating in similarly complex markets, the shift from reactive to predictive route planning is no longer optional, it’s a competitive advantage.
TAM: In-store execution remains critical despite e-commerce growth. How should companies balance digital and traditional channels to maximize growth?
Rachit Vohra: Even with the exponential rise of e-commerce, general trade still contributes the lion’s share of FMCG sales in India. The key lies in integrating, not isolating, both channels.
At Kellanova, we balance this duality by investing in platforms like Parinaam, an app that enables merchandisers to track in-store compliance through photos, checklists, and real-time scoring. This ensures that physical store execution, availability, visibility, pricing, is not left to chance. Simultaneously, we deploy AI-led tools to track our digital shelf: salience on marketplaces, keyword relevance, pricing vs. competition, and content compliance.
The winning formula is to treat every touchpoint as a potential point of influence, whether it’s a kirana shelf in Kanpur or an Amazon product page. Technology allows us to maintain agility across both. And in a market as diverse as India, that agility is the true differentiator.
TAM: Looking ahead, what emerging technologies do you believe will redefine sales and distribution in FMCG, and how is Kellanova preparing to integrate these advancements?
Rachit Vohra: The future of sales and distribution will be shaped by three pillars: predictive intelligence, adaptive execution, and continuous learning. We’re already seeing glimpses of this at Kellanova. Our ML-led tools are helping us optimize media and trade spends in real-time. Data analytics, Power BI platform, has automated reporting across functions, enabling faster, more data-driven decisions. We’re also using gamified digital training to skill our workforce, delivering over 1000 man-days of learning across 2000+ employees in a format that’s engaging and scalable. Looking ahead, I see conversational AI redefining field support, IoT transforming inventory and visibility, and NLP-based analytics helping us interpret market sentiment faster than ever.
