Bhandari will succeed George Kovoor who is set to retire on 31 March 2025 as Senior Vice President and General Manager for India Beverages
Vested with the responsibility of driving the beverage operations of the company in the region, Nitin Bhandari has been appointed as Vice President and General Manager for India and South Asia- Beverage at PepsiCo, according to the media reports. Bhandari will succeed George Kovoor who is set to retire on 31 March 2025 as Senior VP and General Manager for India Beverages.
As per the reports, Bhandari will be based in Gurugram. He has been associated with the company for nearly two decades (almost 19 years). Having held various leadership roles in the company across India, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, he served as VP and Chief Growth Officer for PepsiCo India.
“Excited to lead our beverages business in India and South Asia. Grateful to Eugene Willemsen and Jagrut Kotecha for this opportunity and deeply appreciative of George Kovoor’s leadership over the last three years to set such a strong foundation for this business,” media reports quoted Bhandari.
Managing both beverages and foods, Bhandari served as the General Manager for the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. Media reports state that introducing ecommerce initiatives across Asia, revitalising PepsiCo’s food business in Thailand, and crafting the marketing strategy for iconic brands such as Mountain Dew in India are among his most notable works.
With rising competition from Reliance Industries, which has doubled down on its efforts to revive the Campa-Cola brand, PepsiCo faces tough task ahead and the company now relies on Bhandari to steer the company’s growth.
