Leadership team
Mr. Sunil D’Souza has been serving as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consumer Products since April 2020. Prior to this, he held the position of Managing Director at Whirlpool India Ltd. for over four years and had a significant contribution in transforming the Whirlpool business in India. He has also worked with PepsiCo for almost 15 years, where he held various leadership positions, managing the commercial aspects of the Company’s food and beverage portfolio, and steering the business in a large cluster of Asian countries. Sunil started his career with Hindustan Unilever in 1993 and has 29 years of extensive experience in the consumer products sector with a strong emphasis on strategy, growth, and execution.
In addition to his current role as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, he is also a Director on the Board of Tata Coffee Limited, NourishCo Beverages Limited, Tata Starbucks Private Limited, Tata Consumer Soulfull Private Limited, and several of Tata Consumer Products’ overseas subsidiaries.
Mr. Sunil holds a degree in engineering from the University of Madras and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C).
Mr. L. Krishnakumar is the Executive Director and Group CFO of Tata Consumer Products. He started his career as a management consultant with A. F. Ferguson and Co. in India and the Middle East. He subsequently worked with Larsen and Toubro Ltd. across multiple functions as General Manager, Finance where he gained exposure to the fields of engineering, information technology, shipping and more.
In 2000, Mr. Krishnakumar joined Tata Group in the hotels business as Vice President – Finance and was appointed Senior Vice President – Finance of the erstwhile Tata Tea in India in 2004. During his tenure he has handled different roles for the Company in India and the UK. Mr. Krishnakumar is a Director on the Board of NourishCo Beverages, Tata Starbucks and several of the Company’s overseas subsidiaries in addition to Infiniti Retail. He has also been a member of finance forums of CII and Bombay Chamber. Mr. Krishnakumar is qualified in Chartered Accountancy, Cost Accountancy and Company Secretarial.
Ajit Krishnakumar joined Tata Consumer Products in January 2020 as Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for business integration and transformation as well as the integrated India operations and B2B businesses. Prior to this, Ajit was a Senior Vice President in the Chairman’s Office at Tata Sons, with responsibilities for strategy, corporate finance and M&A for the consumer and other business verticals. Formerly an investment banker and advisor with companies such as Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Rothschild & Co., Ajit has advised on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and fund-raising assignments across a number of industries and countries.
Ajit holds a post-graduate degree in business administration from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Hartford, Connecticut.
Tarun N P Varma joined Tata Consumer Products in January 2023 as Global Chief Human Resources Officer. In this role, Tarun is responsible for developing a competitive and compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) for Tata Consumer’s global organisation besides embedding an integrated people agenda to accelerate delivery across all the pillars of the company’s business strategy.
Tarun comes with over two decades of experience, having joined Tata Consumer Products from Shell plc, where he last served as Vice President - HR for the Global Technology division. He earlier led the HR function for Shell Group of Companies in India. Prior to this, he held multiple HR leadership roles across leading multinational corporations such as Vodafone, Coca-Cola, and Nestle.
Tarun is a post-graduate in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur.
Gharry Eccles joined Tata Consumer Products in January 2022 as President - International Business and is based in London. In this role, he is responsible for the business performance of international markets, including the development of a strong portfolio of brands, improved business growth and profitability, driving new products and innovation, and executing on new growth opportunities across markets and regions.
With over 3 decades of rich experience in consumer products, Gharry was previously with Cereal Partners Worldwide– a joint venture between Nestle and General Mills, where he was the Vice President, with business responsibility for the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand covering over 1,000 employees, 3 factories and 2 R&D centres. Prior to this, he held various leadership positions across organisations such as PZ Cussons PLC, Muller Dairy Ltd, The Wrigley Company and Kimberly Clarke, Europe. He is a post‑graduate in marketing from Kingston Business School.
Navaneel Kar leads the Sales function in India for the Foods and Beverages portfolio. He joined Tata Consumer in August 2019 from ITC Limited where he spent 16 years managing multiple roles across Sales, Marketing, Strategy and Category Management. In his last role he served as General Manager – West with the responsibility for Sales across channels, Logistics, HR and Industry affairs, managing a team of 500 people and generating a turnover of INR 5,000 crores. His career coincided with the diversification of ITC from a single category Company to a diversified FMCG organisation.
He contributed significantly to the launch and scale up of the Foods businesses in ITC as Category Manager, helping establish S&D and category management processes. He was also the Brand Manager for Sunfeast Biscuits and played a key role in the expansion of the biscuits portfolio.
Navaneel has also worked as a Manager with Tata Motors, joining them as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) from Delhi College of Engineering. He holds an MBA from XLRI, Jamshepdur.
T. V. Swaminathan joined Tata Consumer Products in March 2021 as Global Chief Digital Officer (CDO) to chart out and execute a digital roadmap for the Company. His responsibilities also include enabling the business using digital, enhancing analytical capabilities and leading the development of a digital vision and value proposition.
With 24 years of experience, Swami was previously with Nissan Motors, Japan, as Chief Digital Officer. Prior to this, he has held multiple leadership roles across various businesses in General Electric (GE) and has also been a part of Accenture and Servion Global solutions during his career.
Swami is a post-graduate in computer applications with a bachelor’s in computer science.
Vikas Gupta was appointed the Global Head of R&D for Tata Consumer Products in June 2020. He began as the Head of Product Innovation for India in 2013 and was appointed the Head of Global NPD in 2017 for the Beverages business. Vikas has played a key role in achieving successful launches of innovation projects for the tea and coffee category globally.
Vikas brings diverse experience of the Food and Beverages industry with demonstrated leadership capabilities in new product development, cost innovation and supply chain to develop and launch innovation projects. Previously, he spent almost a decade in GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited across R&D and Supply Chain functions and 3 years with Hindustan Unilever Ltd. in the R&D function.
Vikas has a master’s in Food Technology from the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore and is a graduate in Horticulture from University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
Puneet Das joined Tata Consumer Products in November 2017. He was appointed President – Packaged Beverages (India and South Asia) in April 2021. Prior to this, he was Senior Vice President – Packaged Beverages, India where he played a key role in strengthening the core Tata Tea brand and sub-brands.
Puneet has more than 20 years of experience in the FMCG industry in India and other international markets such as the Sub-Saharan African region, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. He has held senior marketing positions in Marico, Pepsico, GSK Consumer and has worked on iconic brands such as 7Up, Boost and Horlicks, among others.
He also had a brief stint with Ola before moving to Tata Consumer.
A respected marketer and award winner, Puneet has been recognised as ‘Marketer of the Year 2020’ by Brand Equity.com, Pitch ‘Best CMO award’ for excellence in purpose-driven marketing (2020 and 2019) and is among the Super 30 CMO Honour Roll 2020 for the trailblazing work in marketing the Tata Tea portfolio. Puneet is a graduate from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and holds a post-graduate diploma in management (MBA) from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Deepika Bhan joined Tata Consumer Products in May 2021, as President - Foods Business. Prior to this, she spent 15 years at Hindustan Unilever Ltd., most recently as the Global Brand Director where she led the brand development, innovation and communication agenda for the Hair Care portfolio for South Asia.
Having worked on leadership assignments across Sales and Marketing, Deepika brings her rich experience and expertise in brand crafting and communication, driving innovation, building new categories and P&L management combined with a strong understanding of frontline sales. She is particularly passionate about building brands and business with purpose at its heart.
Deepika is an Economics (Hons) graduate from St. Xavier’s’ College and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Vikram Grover joined Tata Consumer Products in 2011 as Marketing Head for South Asia and has played a key role in achieving several milestones for the Company’s branded tea business and for the liquid beverages business in India. Now he leads the subsidiary, NourishCo Beverages. Prior to this, Vikram worked across sales, marketing and strategy at Hindustan Unilever Ltd. in India and in Unilever France and Indonesia holding significant roles such as Global Strategy and Brand Director.
He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) and a bachelor’s degree from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.
Prashant Parameswaran is the MD and CEO of Tata Consumer Soulfull Private Ltd since April 2021. In his previous role, he served as the Co‑Founder and MD/CEO of Kottaram Agro Foods (Soulfull) for ten years. Under the brand name ‘Soulfull’, he brought back traditional grains like millets to the modern Indian consumer in a form that is relevant for the 21st century.
With over 20 years of experience, Prashant began his career in 2001 by successfully setting up the distribution, operations and retail business units in India for the Kottaram Group. He has also worked in the US with international firms such as Limited Brands and Information Resources Inc., as a Director supporting the Marketing Strategies team at Safeway Supermarkets from their headquarters in California. He led the team in managing revenues and acquiring new business opportunities.
Prashant is an engineering graduate from PSG College of Technology, Tamil Nadu and holds an MBA from Babson College – Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business. He is a Member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO), Bangalore Chapter and was an active Round Tabler in Bengaluru and Cochin until 2020.
Chacko P. Thomas joined Tata Coffee Limited in 2015 as Executive Director and Deputy CEO, where he led the operations and strategic management of the plantations and later the instant coffee division. He was then appointed its Managing Director and CEO in April 2019. His stint with the Tata Group began in 1992 as an Assistant Manager in erstwhile Tata Tea. He was associated with the South India Plantations Division of Tata Tea, now known as Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company (KDHP) in Munnar, for about 23 years. After his many roles in plantation management, he headed the business diversification when in 2012, he was appointed as Managing Director of KDHP.
Chacko has been part of the steering committees of various industry bodies like UPASI, KPA etc. He has also served as a Nominee Director of Tata Consumer on the Board of Watawala Plantations, Sri Lanka and is currently on the board of KDHP and Eight O’Clock Coffee, USA. Chacko holds a degree in science with specialisation in computer science from the University of Jodhpur. He is also an alumnus of INSEAD Fontainebleau (France) following the completion of their Advanced Management Programme.
Punit joined Tata Consumer Products in April 2021 and leads the Strategy and M&A function. He is responsible for driving the overall strategy for a sustainable and profitable growth mandate, as well as delivery of new businesses and acquisitions. Punit has over 16 years of experience across operational and consulting roles, including leading and delivering large-scale, complex transformation engagements across India, APAC, Europe and North America. Prior to Tata Consumer, Punit headed business strategy for Samsung Electronics for South-West Asia, driving strategic initiatives for the smartphone and the consumer durables businesses. Punit started his career in operational roles with Asian Paints and Hindustan Unilever Ltd., where he managed large sales teams across India, spanning more than 40 FMCG product categories like decorative paints, home and personal care, and foods and beverages. During his strategy consulting assignments with Accenture and A.T. Kearney, Punit led 30+ CXO-level engagements with cross-functional teams across the globe.
Punit is a Mechanical Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering and holds an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Rishi joined Tata Consumer Products in June 2022. Prior to this, he was at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas where he was a Partner with the general corporate practice. Rishi has extensive global experience, having worked in markets such as Australia and the United Kingdom. Rishi has worked in areas such as corporate finance transactions, structuring of investments, business and operations, day-to-day operational issues and advising on compliance and specialist legal advice in relation to disputes, employment, tax and related areas. He previously worked with organisations such as AZB & Partners, Clifford Chance LLP and Herbert Smith Freehills.