Britannia Industries biscuit brand Marie Gold (Credit: GYAN PRATIM RAICHOUDHURY / Shutterstock.com)

Britannia Industries, India’s largest bakery firm, has brought in Rajneet Kohli as CEO, effective from today (26 September).

Kohli was named chief executive on Friday and joins the publicly-listed business from Jubilant FoodWorks, the Domino’s Pizza franchise operator in India. Concurrently, managing director Varun Berry has been appointed as vice chairman, having run the company since 2013, but retains the MD position.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Press reports in India suggested the CEO role is a newly-created seat, a point Just Food has approached Britannia Industries to clarify.

The new CEO, whose previous career takes in PepsiCo and Unilever, reports to Berry and will also hold an executive director seat at Britannia Industries, which has seen profits continue to decline in the opening three months of its financial year to 30 June.

Berry said in a stock-exchange filing Kohli’s “experience of building high-performance businesses and profitable brands is strongly aligned to our vision of becoming a responsible global total foods company”.

He added: “Rajneet’s proven track record of scaling up businesses and building highly engaged teams makes him a perfect fit for the organisation”.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Britannia Industries’ portfolio features biscuits, bread and cakes, along with dairy products. The company supplies the domestic market and 80 destinations worldwide in North America, Europe, Africa, south-east Asia and the Middle East. Brands include Good Day, Tiger, NutriChoice, Milk Bikis, Marie Gold and Little Hearts.

While first-quarter revenues increased 9% to INR37.6bn (US$460.5m), net profit fell 13% to INR3.3bn.

Announcing the figures in August, Berry said inflated input costs hit profits, with wheat prices up as much as 15% in the quarter and fuel 20%.

“While we actioned necessary price increases to cover this, the full impact of price correction should reflect in the ensuing quarter,” he added. “[A] further drop in prices of some of the commodities like palm oil and crude, along with our intensified cost efficiency programme, should help sustain and improve profitability in the coming quarters.”

Profit in the previous full fiscal year was down 9% at INR16bn based on revenue of INR137.3m, which rose 8.4% over the corresponding period.