Britannia Industries has appointed Rakshit Hargave as its chief executive officer and managing director, marking a key leadership transition at one of India’s largest packaged food companies.
The appointment took effect on 15 December and has been approved by the company’s board for a five-year term, subject to shareholder approval, Britannia said in a statement to the stock exchanges.
On taking charge, Hargave said he was privileged to lead the company and described his first day at Britannia as “amazing” after meeting teams across the organisation. He said he looked forward to working with employees to build Britannia into a “total foods global company,” according to the company statement.
Hargave brings more than two decades of experience across consumer goods, retail and manufacturing, with leadership roles in India and overseas. Most recently, he was chief executive of Birla Opus, the paints business of the Aditya Birla Group, where he played a central role in building the venture from inception, including setting up manufacturing operations and scaling distribution.
Before that, Hargave held senior positions at Beiersdorf AG, leading operations across the ASEAN and ANZ regions, and served as managing director of NIVEA India. His earlier career includes senior sales and marketing roles at Hindustan Unilever, as well as stints at Kimberly-Clark Lever, Lakmé Lever and Jubilant Foodworks. He began his professional career at Tata Motors and later worked with Nestlé India, gaining experience across operations, sales and brand management.
An alumnus of IIT Varanasi and the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi, Hargave succeeds Varun Berry, who stepped down earlier this year after a decade-long tenure at Britannia. Berry is credited with steering the company through a period of steady growth and portfolio expansion.
Britannia said the leadership change aligns with its strategy to strengthen its portfolio beyond biscuits and dairy and accelerate its transformation into a diversified, global food company. The maker of brands such as Good Day, Marie Gold and Little Hearts has been expanding into adjacent food categories while navigating rising input costs and intensifying competition.
Hargave’s immediate challenge will be to sustain growth in a price-sensitive market while executing Britannia’s longer-term ambition of scaling its presence beyond India. His appointment signals continuity in strategy, even as the company positions itself for its next phase of expansion.