Meet the Indian marketers returning home from global markets to take up CEO positions

The tale of Indian executives taking over global CEO positions and running the world's biggest companies is well-known and celebrated. But equally important is the story of top executives who were running multinational companies in other countries returning to India as CEOs and MDs.

In recent weeks, four such executives have made a move back to their home country after spending time abroad.

Jagrut Kotecha

Jagrut Kotecha is the newly-announced president and CEO of PepsiCo India. Kotecha will take over from PepsiCo India's current top boss after expat chief Ahmed ElSheikh moves on. Kotecha was PepsiCo's senior vice president and chief commercial officer for AMESA (Africa, Middle East and South Asia regions). Kotecha's extensive experience in the snacks business made him the ideal executive for the job, the food and beverage major accelerates its snacks business. Kotecha is an experienced sales, brand and Country Manager with end-to-end P&L responsibility. He is a commercial digital transformation and business transformation leader with experience in markets across Asia, Middle East and Africa. In 2018, when Kotecha was vice president for PepsiCo India’s snacking category, he oversaw the innovations and transformations of Lay's and Kurkure to make them better suit Indian tastes and preferences. He also led the launch of India-made Doritos in 2017.

Kotecha started his career in 1992 with Cadbury and moved to PepsiCo India in sales and marketing in 1994. Kotecha has an MBA from SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) and a B.E Chemical Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Hemant Bakshi

Hemant Bakshi, who led Unilever Indonesia as executive vice president - Unilever marketplace and chairman, joined Ola as chief executive vice officer. Bakshi took over from Bhavish Aggarwal. As the president director of Unilever Indonesia, he was in-charge of its full responsibility. Bakshi recently revealed that he moonlighted as a cab driver by night in Bengaluru to gain a better understanding of customer experience, expectations and service level requirements. Bakshi started his career with Unilever as executive director of sales and customer development.

Sandeep Kohli

In July 2022, Sandeep Kohli took over Unilever Indonesia as general manager and board member. Now he is set to return to India to lead Aditya Birla Group's jewellery venture as CEO. Kohli, who has more than three decades of experience, began his career at Hindustan Unilever as a sales manager. He rose to become the head of marketing, foods division at Unilever, Philippines. He has held extensive roles in different capacities in countries like London and Singapore as global brand director and vice president, Greater China, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, and a masters in management degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS).

Nikhil Sharma

Nikhil Sharma is new managing director of Italian confectionery major Perfetti Van Melle's India operations. Sharma was previously the managing director for Perfetti Van Melle’s Philippines and Vietnam branch. His journey began with Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) in 1999 as a Management Trainee, serving various roles in Sales and Marketing. He was heading the Marketing function in 2012. From 2015 he moved to General Management and went overseas to head PVM Philippines, followed by being appointed the Managing Director of PVM Vietnam. During his previous stint in India, under his leadership, PVM launched several successful campaigns - Alpenliebe Kajol and the Crocodile, re-launch of Big Babol ads, Chlormint Salman Khan campaign 'Dobara mat poochna' and Lollipops – Lagey Raho. Starting February 2024, he will be running the India business as Managing Director, leveraging his global experience on Perfetti's Indian chapter.

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