Mr. Banerjee, an alumnus of IIT-KGP and IIM-Calcutta worked with Berger Paints and Marico before joining Ceat in 2005.

Teeing off with a brief discussion of the key concepts of sales and distribution, Mr. Banerjee stressed on the fact that Customer Centricity is in fact the cornerstone of any S&D; model. The primary objective of professionals in this function is to facilitate sales and enable distribution. The need of the hour is however to generate innovative options in order to create a push-driven demand for a product.

Channel interface is the essence of the role played by a distribution team. Mr.Banerjee brought huge value to the discussion by painting a pen-picture of the channel landscape, as it exists presently in India. Speaking of the various responsibilities assumed by manufacturers towards the channel partners, he drove home the importance of “Channel Engagement” and outlined the tools that companies developed for the same.

Mr. Banerjee went on to discuss the nuances of the S&D; function in the FMCG sector and gave interesting insights in to innovation and trends in this arena. Completing the learning loop, he then discussed the Sales and Distribution practices for commercial tyres and wound up by highlighting the differences between the two, thus reinforcing earlier concepts amidst a flurry of questions which brought to the fore the immense wealth of his experience.