Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in India, has announced a series of senior leadership appointments across key functions, as the company looks to sharpen execution capabilities and support its next phase of growth.
The leadership changes span integrated supply chain, commercial operations, human resources, strategy and commercial transformation, reflecting HCCB’s focus on strengthening its value chain and scaling operations across markets.
Avinash Kant Kumar has been appointed Head of Integrated Supply Chain and will lead supply chain operations with an emphasis on resilience, efficiency and scalability. Kumar brings over three decades of experience across supply chain, procurement and operations. He joins HCCB from Jubilant FoodWorks, where he served as President, and has previously held leadership roles at McCain Foods, Reliance Retail, Al Foah and Procter & Gamble.
Vinay Nair has been named Chief Commercial Officer and will be responsible for driving commercial strategy, strengthening execution discipline and accelerating growth across channels and geographies. Nair brings 25 years of experience within the Coca-Cola system, where he has played a key role in building partnerships and expanding market presence.
Ritesh Pratap Singh has taken over as Chief Human Resources Officer and will lead HCCB’s people and culture agenda, with a focus on strengthening organisational capability, leadership depth and a high-performance culture. Singh joins from Tata Projects, where he served as CHRO, and has earlier held senior HR leadership roles at Tata Trusts and Indian Hotels Company (Taj Hotels).
Sunaina Dhanuka has been elevated to the role of Head of Strategy, in addition to continuing as Chief of Staff to the CEO. In her expanded role, she will advance HCCB’s growth and transformation agenda. Dhanuka brings wide-ranging experience from the Coca-Cola system across ASEAN and South Pacific markets and has also worked with global organisations such as Unilever, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley and Arthur Andersen.
Girish Sivaraman has been appointed Vice-President, Commercial Transformation, and will spearhead the company’s commercial transformation initiatives, focusing on go-to-market excellence, sales effectiveness and capability building. He brings experience across Indian and international markets, with prior leadership roles at Mondelez International, Pepsi, Varun Beverages, Britannia and Vodafone.
Commenting on the appointments, Hemant Rupani, Chief Executive Officer of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, said the leadership moves underscore the company’s focus on building strong execution capabilities across supply chain, commercial and people functions. “As we continue to strengthen execution rigour, deepen organisational capability and enable scale across our value chain, these leaders will play a critical role in shaping HCCB’s next phase of growth,” he said.
HCCB works with over 250,000 farmers and operates 14 manufacturing facilities across India, with a strong footprint in southern and western regions.