Oct 7 (Reuters) - Nestle SA, on Monday,

nominated the recently retired head of Amazon India and former

Unilever executive as its candidate to head the food giant's

Indian operation in a year's time.

Nestle India said its Swiss parent had recommended

that Manish Tiwary replace Suresh Narayanan when he retires as

managing director next year.

Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever and other consumer

products companies have been struggling to invigorate sales for

a while now due to high inflation and competition from cheaper

rivals in the world's most populous country.

Narayanan has been the Indian company's chairman and

managing director -- executive positions that rank higher than a

CEO in India -- since 2015 and will retire on July 30 next year.

If Nestle India approves the nomination, Tiwary, who

resigned as Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) India head two months back,

will become the company's managing director.

Narayanan, who has previously headed Nestle's operations in

the Philippines, Egypt and Singapore, is also retiring as

chairman of Nestle India, but the company did not say who would

take over that position. It did not immediately reply to an

email seeking comment.

Amazon India had said Tiwary would leave in October after an

eight-year stint as its India head to pursue an opportunity

outside of the company.

Tiwary has held various posts at Nestle's rival Unilever's ( UL )

Indian and Gulf units, according to his LinkedIn

profile. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.