PepsiCo names D Shivakumar as Chairman & CEO, India Region

PepsiCo has announced two key senior management appointments in its Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) division. D “Shiv” Shivakumar has been named Chairman and CEO, India Region, effective immediately. Shivakumar will oversee all aspects of PepsiCo’s India Region, which includes many of India’s most beloved food and beverage brands such as Pepsi-Cola, Lay’s potato chips, Slice mango beverage, Kurkure snacks, Tropicana juices and Quaker oats, as well as the NourishCo joint venture with Tata Global Beverages and franchise businesses in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He will be responsible for strategically deploying the Rs. 33,000 crore investment in India that PepsiCo announced last month.

Gautham Mukkavilli, current General Manager for PepsiCo India Beverages, has been named SVP, Business Transformation – AMEA, effective March 1, 2014. In this new role, Mukkavilli will oversee a range of strategic initiatives in both foods and beverages across Asia, Middle East and Africa. Both Shivakumar and Mukkavilli will report directly to Sanjeev Chadha, CEO – PepsiCo AMEA.

“I’m thrilled to have two leaders of Shiv and Gautham’s stature playing key roles in driving PepsiCo’s business forward in AMEA,” said Chadha. “Both men embody the passion and excellence that will strengthen AMEA’s position as the growth engine of PepsiCo as they bring their unique skills to bear in their respective roles.”

Shivakumar is one of India’s most experienced and proven business leaders. His track record of success spans multiple industries from consumer products to technology to telecom. Most recently, as a senior executive with Nokia for most of the past decade, he led India to become Nokia’s top-ranked market by revenue and one of its most profitable geographies. Previously, he spent 14 years at Hindustan Unilever, where he grew the Lipton tea brands to historic volumes, and three years at Philips Consumer Electronics India, doubling the company’s revenues over that period.

“Shiv is a natural leader,” said Chadha. “He is known to be a great coach and mentor who inspires people to do their best and overcome challenges with a smile on their face.”

“PepsiCo is one of the world’s most innovative, respected and successful companies,” said Shiv. “I love the PepsiCo team’s passion to win, its strong values, and the philosophy of Performance with Purpose. I am thrilled to carry on the tradition of excellence, excitement and purpose that PepsiCo’s extremely talented team has established – I am looking forward to working with those team members, and helping them achieve many more milestones to be proud of in the years to come.”

Shivakumar is an Engineer from IIT Chennai and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. He is currently a member of the Board of Governors of IIM Ahmedabad and immediate Past-President of the All-India Management Association.

Mukkavilli brings to his new role more than 22 years of rich and diverse PepsiCo experience. In his most recent assignment, he led the development of the long-term beverage strategy that will drive PepsiCo’s recently-announced investment in India. Previously he held important roles across PepsiCo’s Foods, Beverages and Nutrition businesses in India, Vietnam, Thailand, Dubai and the U.S. Mukkavilli has an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

“Gautham is one of our most respected senior leaders,” said Chadha. “The AMEA sector will benefit greatly from his strategic skillset as Gautham leads key transformational projects across our priority markets, including India.”

On November 16, PepsiCo announced plans for the company and its partners to invest Rs. 33,000 crores (US$5.5 billion) in India by 2020. This investment is expected to further strengthen and expand PepsiCo’s capabilities in the following strategic areas:

  • Innovation: PepsiCo will continue to expand the range of foods and beverages in its portfolio to cater to the wide and evolving needs of Indian consumers. PepsiCo has a long history of successfully innovating for the Indian market, and PepsiCo India already has organically built eight brands that generate Rs. 1,000 crores or more in estimated annual retail sales. (Pepsi, Lay’s, Kurkure, 7UP, Slice, Mirinda, Mountain Dew and Aquafina)
  • Manufacturing: PepsiCo plans to significantly increase manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demand for its foods and beverages. PepsiCo and its partners plan to expand their production capacity in India to more than double current levels by 2020.
  • Infrastructure: PepsiCo and its partners plan to ramp up selling and delivery infrastructure throughout the country, with a particular focus on rural market expansion. As part of this strategic initiative, PepsiCo will work with its partners to deploy new technologies designed to enhance service to retail customers and increase efficiency across go-to-market systems.
  • Agriculture: Resources will be allocated to expand PepsiCo’s well-known collaborative farming program, which provides farmers with access to good quality seeds, technical agronomic expertise, bank loans and crop insurance. This program currently reaches 24,000 farmers, positively impacting their income and social standing in addition to strengthening the reliability and quality of PepsiCo’s supply chain.
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