News: Coca-Cola announces major leadership changes

Leadership

Coca-Cola announces major leadership changes

Sanket Ray as been appointed as the new India Head. Current president of Coca-Cola India T Krishnakumar has been named chairman of the company.
Coca-Cola announces major leadership changes

Beverage major, Coca-Cola has elevated company veteran Sanket Ray,  from his current position of the Chief Operating Officer for its Mainland China business to  the President of India and Southwest Asia business.

Ray was previously chief executive officer at Coca-Cola Beverages Vietnam Ltd. He also worked with the company’s owned bottling unit in India, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB).

Current president of Coca-Cola India T. Krishnakumar has been named chairman of the company. Coca-Cola said Krishnakumar will be responsible for building and strengthening critical local partnerships in India and supporting the new operating unit leadership team. Krishnakumar had been heading Coca-Cola India as president since April 2017.

The appointments follow the company’s broader reorganization, first announced on 28 August. Its 17 business units were then replaced with nine larger operating units. This will become effective on 1 January 2021, subject to consultation where required under local laws.

Last week, the Atlanta-based company had announced at least 4,000 job cuts across markets, as the pandemic and lockdowns across markets including India severely impacted April-June quarter sales. The maker of Coke and Sprite soft drinks said it plans to first offer buyouts to 4,000 employees in large markets like the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and then offer similar voluntary programmes in other countries. The impact of job reductions in India is not yet known.

For the quarter ended June 2020, Coca-Cola’s volumes for sparkling soft drinks fell 12% led by India, Western Europe and the fountain business in North America, it had said in a statement, attributing the decline to pressure in away-from-home channels. In the Asia Pacific region, unit case volumes fell 18%, primarily due to strict lockdowns in India, the company had said. 

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Topics: Leadership, Appointments

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