Pepsico India chief Manu Anand quits

Anand’s departure comes amid speculation that he had been asked to
leave (Photo: Amit Verma)

Manu Anand, chief executive of Pepsico’s Indian operations has quit

the company somewhat abruptly. Anand who had spent 19 years in the

company will be leaving with immediate effect according to a company

statement.

Pepsico India is yet to announce a successor. In the interim, Gautham

Mukkavilli, who heads the beverage division and Praveen Someshwar, who

heads the foods business will report to Saad Abdul-Latif. He heads

Pepsico Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Anand’s departure comes amid speculation that he had been asked to

leave. An internal employee who spoke with Forbes India said that

operationally the company had been losing ground to competitor Coca

Cola in the last few months. Anand’s bet to pay Rs160 crore for the

IPL doesn’t seem to have paid off. According to recent Nielsen numbers

the company has lost ground to Coca Cola. Pepsico’s market share fell

to 29.7 percent from 32.1 percent, the Economic Times reported.

Another reason cited is Anand’s inability to retain his senior team.

Last April, Varun Berry, who was head of the foods business left the

company. He has since been appointed COO at Britannia. Another

prominent departure was that of Geetu Verma, who joined Hindustan

Unilever as executive director foods. In addition to this there have

been several departures at the general manager level, a fact that

didn’t go unnoticed in Pepsico headquarters.

Insiders say what really did, Anand in was his inability to get Ravi

Jaipuria, Pepsico India’s largest bottler on board with some of the

company’s long-term plans. “This lack of alignment really hurt the

company,” he said. According to him Jaipuria had in the last few

months been taking his grievances directly to Indra Nooyi, Pepsico’s

global CEO. He cited the company’s lack of robust defence to Coca

Cola’s Rs.8 per bottle price. That really hurt the company and result

in some loss in market share.

For the moment it’s unclear what the global parent will do. A Pepsico

India spokesperson denied that Anand had been asked to leave or that

his departure had anything to do with performance. A short statement

released by the company said Anand was leaving for a new job. The

company declined to comment on why the handover wasn’t done more

smoothly. Anand was unavailable for comment.