PepsiCo India ropes in Jagrut Kotecha as CEO

Jagrut Kotecha has been appointed CEO of PepsiCo India. He takes over from Ahmed El Sheikh, who became the branch's head in the Middle East. As PepsiCo Africa's current Chief Commercial Officer, Kotecha uses a creative strategy to propel the business' expansion in the Indian market. Notably, on February 2nd, Kirk Tanner, CEO of the company's beverage division in North America, will resign.

As per the company, the decision was made as a part of its series of leadership changes across Africa, Middle-East and South Africa (AMESA).

“India remains a pivotal market for PepsiCo, playing a crucial role in our global strategy. Over the last six years, Ahmed has been instrumental in transforming our business, driving innovation and steering the team through challenging landscapes. I am equally excited to welcome Jagrut to the India executive team and am certain that we will scale new zeniths of success under his leadership with our Indian consumers,” Eugene Willemsen, CEO of Africa, Middle-East and South Asia, said in a statement.

Kotecha joined the company in 1994. He has extensive experience as a sales and brand manager and has held end-to-end profit and loss (P&L) responsibility.

In 2018, he was the Vice-President of PepsiCo India and supervised the innovations and transformation of the company's products like Lay's and Kurkure to make them better suited for Indian consumers. He also led the launch of another snack, Doritos, in 2017.