Coca-Cola India reshuffles top management

Debabrata Mukherjee will take over from Anupama Ahluwalia as vice-president, marketing and commercial.

Coca-Cola India has undergone a major reshuffle of its senior management. Anupama Ahluwalia, vice-president, marketing, has been replaced by Debabrata Mukherjee. Mukherjee will be vice-president, marketing and commercial, functions which have been clubbed together under one head with the intention of giving equal attention to commercial and shopper marketing and product commercialisation. Mukherjee was earlier vice-president, strategy and still beverages.

Mukherjee has been with the company since 1998 in various marketing and general management roles. He was also marketing head of Coca-Cola's Korean operation.

Meanwhile, Ahluwalia, who led the marketing function at Coca-Cola India for two years, will undergo a short term leadership stint with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages. After going through experience in bottling system, she will again return to Coca-Cola India.

Mukherjee's previous role will be taken over by Andriy Avramenko, who is currently serving as vice-president, juice.

Vikas Chawla, the present vice-president, operations, will head franchise operations in Southeast Europe. He will shift base to Athens, Greece, and will be in-charge of operations for 12 European countries.

The changes will be effective from October 1. Venkatesh Kini, deputy business unit president, India and Southwest Asia, Coca-Cola, says, "Building our talent pipeline and developing people capability is one of our key pillars for success. 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."

To achieve its 2020 business targets, two operations leaders have been created. Sumanta Datta will become vice-president, company bottling operations (including Delhi region and national key accounts). Currently, he is vice-president, customer and commercial leadership.

Bhupendra Suri, director, franchise operations, will be promoted as vice-president, franchise bottling operations.