Manu Anand quits as PepsiCo India chief

Company declines to identify Manu Anand's successor

 

Manu Anand today quit as PepsiCo India president with immediate effect, ending a 19-year-stint with the company. In a statement, PepsiCo India said Anand had decided to join another company and was, therefore, leaving the country’s largest foods & beverages company, with annual turnover of Rs 12,000-15,000 crore.

The company declined to identify Anand’s successor, saying it would be announced in due course. Anand was unavailable for comment.

Anand’s exit comes a day after rival Coca-Cola elevated Atul Singh from the head (Indian and Southwest Asian operations) to deputy president of its Pacific Group.

Following his exit, Gautham Mukkavilli and Praveen Someshwar, chief executives of the beverages and foods businesses, respectively, would report to Saad Abdul-Latif, the company’s Asia, West Asia and Africa head. In 1994, Anand was appointed chief financial officer of Frito-Lay India, a PepsiCo unit. In 1998, he was appointed managing director of the Frito-Lay business. From 2007 to 2010, he served as general manager of PepsiCo’s Southeast Asia business, before being appointed India chairman in 2011.

After he took charge as chairman, Anand attempted to put together a new manufacturing and distribution model. This involved ‘dispersed manufacturing’, aiming at reducing freight costs by ensuring manufacturing was close to consumption points. Anand also stressed the need for low-cost distribution models. To address the mass market, he was keen to design products for Rs 5.

However, experts questioned Anand’s successful bid for the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for five years, for about Rs 400 crore. This was double the amount forked out by the title’s previous sponsor, DLF. PepsiCo also won the pouring rights for eight of the nine teams in this year’s IPL edition and was a broadcast sponsor on Max, for which it forked out Rs 50 crore. Advertising experts say the company spent a staggering Rs 150 crore to ensure domination in IPL and keep rival Coca-Cola at bay. But analysts say the aggression didn’t pay, with the tournament coming under criticism after a match-fixing scandal led to a steep fall in TRPs.

PepsiCo, analysts say, was unable to raise sales significantly during April-May, crucial for the beverages industry. Anand’s stint at Pepsi was marked by failures such as that of Pepsi Max, launched as a sugar-less cola brand, in 2010. Recently, Anand launched Pepsi Atom. While the company’s foods business grew steadily in the last few years, the beverages business remained second to Coca-Cola’s.

Anand’s tenure at PepsiCo also saw many high-profile exits. Last year, Varun Berry quit as chief executive of the company’s foods business; he later joined Britannia as chief operating officer. Geetu Verma quit as executive director and vice-president (innovations) to head Hindustan Unilever’s foods business.

Other notable exits include those of Sandeep Singh Arora (executive vice-president- marketing, colas), Ranabir Mitra (region reporting director for Asia, West Asia and parts of Africa) and Sangeeta Gupta, executive vice-president for consumer insights.