)
He is the quintessential Pepsi man who will not touch any other carbonated brand and check out whether the drink is being served cold from the fridge whenever he is strolling by a retail outlet. After all, he has been part of the dream team-the original "Ramesh Vanghal boys" (the first boss of Pepsi in India)-who mesmerised the youth with their "Are you ready for the magic" campaign when they launched Lehar Pepsi in the country 20 years ago.
This Monday, Sanjeev Chadha got ready for some more magic after the US- based foods and beverages major announced that he would be elevated to chief executive officer for Asia, West Asia and Africa, responsible to drive PepsiCo's growth in 90 of the 200 countries where the company is present. The empire that he will overlook, which includes West Asia, China, Australia, Korea, Japan amongst others, constitutes for nearly two-thirds of the world's population. But it represents about 10 per cent of the company's global turnover.
Chadha, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, started his career with Brooke Bond, now a part of Unilever. Prior to joining PepsiCo, he had also worked with JWT. As part of the marketing team when Pepsi was launched, he and his colleagues were instrumental in creating what is considered a hugely successful launch of Pepsi with Juhi Chawla as the brand ambassador.
Chadha earned his stripes by turning PepsiCo into the largest foods and beverages company in the country from the third largest player when he took over as the boss in 2007. His tenure also saw heady double-digit growth year after year.
Chadha gave a new focus to foods, especially the Indian variety, by launching Lehar Foods, a value foods division that pushed packaged Indian snacks and looked at price points below Rs 5. Chadha was also part of the team that framed the modalities for a joint venture with the Tatas to sell health and wellness products, especially in the mass market, even though the partnership has been slow to pick up steam.
Chadha will now be expected to replicate the success in other parts of the world. Chadha, in his new role, will report directly to PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra K Nooyi.
Chadha, who reportedly is "partial to good wine", was the head of India operations of PepsiCo between 2007 and 2010. Besides, he has worked in each of the AMEA (Asia, Middle East and Africa) markets, spending about 10 years in India and Asia Pacific and three years in West Asia and Africa.
While heading the India operations, Chadha, who advocates water conservation and water security, was instrumental in PepsiCo's revival after the pesticide controversy.
However, Chadha, whose elevation comes within a few weeks after rival Coca-Cola named Atul Singh as deputy president (Pacific group), may have to lock horns with the chief of Coca-Coal in some markets which are common to both of them. The two leaders have slugged it out in the Indian market and now their rivalry is set to go global.
