Coca-Cola reshuffles India leadership

Debabrata Mukhejee to be VP, marketing; Anupama Ahluwalia to move to Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages

Just after completing 20 years if operations in India, soft drink major Coca-Cola, on Friday, announced major reshuffle in its leadership structure for the Indian operations, effective October 1, 2013.

Debabrata Mukhejee, currently vice president (commercial bottling and key accounts), will become vice president looking after the company’s marketing and commercial activities in India.

The marketing and commercial roles are being brought together under one head, for a deeper and combined focus on commercial and shopper marketing as well as product commercialization, the company said in a statement.

Mukherjee had joined Coca-Cola in 1998 and has worked as the head of marketing for Coca-Cola in Korea for sometime before returning back to India in 2011.

Sumanta Datta, currently vice president (customer and commercial leadership), will take over as vice president (company bottling operations, including Delhi region and national key accounts). Datta will work closely with the team at Hindustan Coca-Cola to deliver the volume and profitability targets for Coca-Cola India. Datta joined Coca-Cola system in 1995 and has also worked in China.

“As we move into the next phase of our journey in India, we have a solid foundation and the necessary momentum in our business. We now need to have the scale and resources to capture latent growth. The new senior level management changes being announced today is a step in that direction. The entire team will work closely with our bottling partners to achieve our Vision 2020 goals in India,” Venkatesh Kini, deputy business unit president (India and South West Asia), said in a statement.

Under the new structure, all the senior leaders of Coca-Cola will report to Kini.

“For a deeper focus on Operations and aligned to achieving the business targets for 2020, Coca-Cola India will have two operations leaders going forward, the company said.

Bhupendra Suri, currently director (franchise operations), will become vice president (franchise bottling operations). Suri will work with Coca-Cola’s 11 franchise bottlers in India.

Andriy Avramenko, currently VP (juice), is set to take over as vice president (strategy and still beverages) for Coca-Cola India.
Anupama Ahluwalia, currently VP (marketing), will take up a short term leadership assignment with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd, the company’s bottling unit.

Upon completion of the assignment, Ahluwalia will return to Coca-Cola India.

Early this week, Coca Cola has elevated Vikas Chawla, vice-president (operations), India, as the head of South East Europe. Effective September 1, 2013. He will move to Athens to lead operations in 12 European countries.

Chawla’s appointment also comes two months after Atul Singh's elevation as the deputy president of Coca-Cola's Pacific Group. Prior to his current role, Singh was the president and CEO of Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia.

However, there will not be any change in the organisation structure at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd. It is currently led by T Krishnakumar.