GSK Consumer Healthcare is organizing its first annual leadership meeting next month in New Delhi where at least 250 top executives of the company will participate. Top executives from 30 other countries will also attend the conference which is called the 'how to win' meet internally. This will be the company’s first such conclave outside the UK and US – clearly giving out the message that India is now an important market; in fact, one of the fastest growing in the world.

In the past, companies like GE and Pepsi Co and Nestle have held similar conferences but this is the first time that a firm based abroad is setting up a global meet on such a large scale bringing so many managers to the country.

"They are coming here to get a flavour of India's high growth environment,'' said Zubair Ahmed, the head of GSK Consumer Healthcare's India unit.GSK makes Horlicks milk drink and Iodex pain ointment which are widely known in the country. "Hosting such meets helps the parent company to better understand local operations of a diverse country like India” he added.

"India is a captive consumer market. Frequency of consumption is increasing, and more importantly, growth is being driven across categories - from rural entry-level products to premium product variants," said Shirish Pardeshi, executive director and co-head, research, at Anand Rathi Securities.

As of now, at least 8% of GSK Consumer Healthcare's global revenues come from India making it the company's fastest-growing market, much ahead of China.