I interned at Godfrey Phillips India for 2 months.
Godfrey Phillips India Limited, a flagship company of the Modi Enterprises, is one of India's largest cigarette manufacturers. It makes some of the best cigarette brands in the country including Four Square, Red & White, and Cavanders, as well as the recently launched Hawk-Eye brand of premium cigarettes. It exports cigarette brands, like Jaisalmer, Stellar and Black Jack among others, all over the globe. And under a license agreement with Philip Morris, it manufactures and market and distributes Marlboro cigarettes in India.
Godfrey Phillips India has expanded its product portfolio beyond cigarettes and tobacco and entered India’s highly competitive chewing products, mouth freshener, confectionery segment and retail. Pan Vilas pan masala, Pan Vilas Silver Dewz – a silver-coated Elaichi (cardamom seed) and Funda Goli candies are all manufactured by the Company at attractive price points. Its premium retail outlets 24Seven is already a brand to contend with.
The share of cigarettes in total tobacco consumption in India is about 20%, compared with 85% globally. Internationally, there has been a shift from traditional forms of tobacco - chewing tobacco, snuff, pipe, cigar/cheroot - to cigarettes, which is recognised to be the modern and more acceptable form of tobacco usage. There are approximately 120 million smokers in India.
With an average volume of approximately 7060 million cigarettes per month. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India is home to 12% of the world’s smokers. The number of men smoking tobacco has risen to 108 million, an increase of 36%, between 1998 and 2016.
At first, being a non-smoker myself, I was struggling with my inner ethical values. I kept on asking myself if I was at the right place or not since I thought that I was in a way promoting cigarette smoking. I might be a part of the cause of death of many. However, soon enough I realised that I was entirely wrong. It is not on you or the cigarette manufacturers or any tobacco company but it is on the individual's choice to smoke or not. Every person in the country has and should have the fundamental right to make that choice. No tobacco company tries or is allowed to influence that choice, to influence non-smokers to start smoking. For example, let us talk about fast food restaurants. We all know how unhealthy fries, burgers, aerated drinks etc. are for our health. But still, people do love to eat these "tasty" burgers, don't they? Are these restaurants shutting down? No. Does anyone question their ethics? Not really. This is how I realised that depriving people of that choice is unethical and not the other way round.
Now talking about my experience at Godfrey Phillips, it was the best internship experience any MBA student could ever ask for. I was working as the Brand management intern in the marketing department of the cigarette segment. I was directly reporting to the Brand Manager of the brand I was allotted to for my internship project. I was given a chance to understand the industry and the brand in depth which further motivated me to deliver to my full potential for the brand since I got attached to the brand as my own after doing a deep study for one week. Various opportunities to go for the market visits and to understand the working of the entire distribution channel of the company were provided to me. This further helped me gain a better understanding of both the retailers' and the consumers' expectation from the brand. GPI is the company which not only provides its employee with a platform to learn and explore but also offers great liberty to make mistakes and learn from them. This is what I liked the most about the company. It does not limit its employees right to contribute based on their experience or gender. Rather, the company values a good idea, a practical business plan and passionate thinking which is what makes GPI one of the best workplaces in the country.