Avenue Supermarts appoints Anshul Asawa as CEO designate from March 15

Avenue Supermarts, which runs the hypermarket and supermarket chain DMart, has appointed Anshul Asawa as chief executive officer (CEO) designate and senior managerial personnel, effective March 15, it said in a stock exchange filing.

 

Asawa will succeed Ignatius Navil Noronha, who will complete his current term of five years as the managing director of the company on January 31, 2026.

 

Asawa, an alumnus of IIT Roorkee and IIM Lucknow, will join DMart after a 30-year stint at Unilever, where he held leadership roles overseeing the growth of product categories and developing impactful functions in India, Asia, and Europe.

 

"He currently serves as Country Head of Unilever in Thailand and general manager for the home care business unit in Greater Asia. During his tenure of over 15 years in India, Anshul held key leadership positions in sales, marketing, and distribution," Avenue Supermarts said in its exchange filing.

 

The filing added that he led the digitisation efforts at Hindustan Unilever and spearheaded product innovations for home care categories, as well as sales and distribution transformations in urban and rural markets within India. He is recognised for his consumer-centricity, commercial discipline, and execution focus.

 

The company has also announced the appointment of Hitesh Shah, vice president-category (FMCG), who joined DMart on January 11. Shah, who joined the company in March 2007, has since developed and strengthened operations and categories like grocery, branded grocery, and FMCG across the country.

 

“He has contributed significantly in his several stints with the company for more than a decade in operations for Mumbai, Gujarat, and North and ROM regions, designing and implementing training modules for store operations as well as project design for certain stores of the company,” the filing stated.