Meet the management team

Mr. D’Souza is the Managing Director & CEO of Tata Consumer. In his previous role, he served as the Managing Director of Whirlpool India Ltd. for four years. Prior to that, he spent almost fifteen years at PepsiCo, where he held several leadership roles. During his stint at PepsiCo, he handled all commercial aspects of the company’s food and beverage portfolio and successfully led the business in a large cluster of Asian countries.

He began his career at Hindustan Unilever Ltd. in 1993. With over 26 years of rich experience, he has strong domain knowledge of the consumer products business with distinct focus on strategy, growth and execution.

He is an engineering graduate from the University of Madras and holds a post‑graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Mr. KrishnaKumar started his career with A. F. Ferguson and Co. and subsequently worked with Larsen and Toubro Ltd. He joined the Tata group in 2000 in the Hotels business and thereafter took over as the erstwhile Tata Tea’s Head of Finance in 2004.

Currently, he is the Executive Director and Group CFO. He leads the Global Finance, Strategy and M&A, Investor Relations, Global Legal and Internal Audit functions.

He is a Director on the Boards of Tata Starbucks Ltd., NourishCo Beverages Ltd. and several of the Company’s overseas subsidiaries.

Mr. Krishnakumar has 20 years of global work experience, which includes responsibilities for strategy, corporate finance and M&A across a number of industries. He joined the Company as Chief Operating Officer in January 2020.

He is responsible for the India Product Supply Organization (procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics), Tea Buying and Blending, Quality Assurance, New Business Ventures and Integration, and Transformation management.

In his previous role, he was Senior Vice President, Tata Sons in the Group Chairman’s office, leading strategy for consumer businesses. He has also worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rothschild & Co., among others.

He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a BBA from the University of Hartford, Connecticut.

Mr. Chincholikar has been with the Tata group since 2010. Prior to joining Tata Consumer, he was with Tata Sons as Senior Vice President – Group Human Resources. He has also worked in organisations such as Mercer Consulting and Aditya Birla Group in leadership roles in India, USA and Singapore.

In his current role, he leads the people strategy as well as the sustainability strategy, commitment and execution for the global organisation.

He holds a post-graduate degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune and is a graduate in Statistics and Operations Research from the University of Mumbai.

Mr. Ahmad joined in 2015 as the Global Chief Marketing Officer. He has played a key role in developing a strong portfolio of global brands with a focus on overall brand health, profitability and premiumisation.

In his current role, he is responsible for driving Tata Consumer’s growth in the international markets of Europe, USA and Canada. Prior to joining, he has had a 20‑year career with Reckitt Benckiser, holding leadership positions across the UK, India, the Middle East and East Asia, in both strategic and operational roles.

He is a graduate from St Stephens College, Delhi and holds an MBA degree from Case Western University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Mr. Dash is responsible for driving the growth strategy and outcomes including innovations for the Packaged Beverages category in India and for the overall business in Bangladesh and the Middle East. He has successfully handled various strategic and operational roles for the Company. Some of his previous roles include Marketing Head for India, Team Leader of a Venture Team based in the UK and Senior Director – Marketing and Business Development – for Tata Starbucks. He has also worked for ORG Marg in various capacities in Consumer and Market Research. Prior to this, he was the Global Brand Director of Tata Consumer.

Ms. Arora joined the Foods business in 2014 to lead the transformation of this vertical. She will drive the growth strategy and outcomes, including innovations for the Packaged Foods category in India.

She has over 30 years of wide-ranging experience spanning Business Operations, Marketing, Strategic Planning and Communications. In her previous role, she had set up Five by Six Consulting–a boutique strategic marketing consulting firm, advising companies like McCain Foods, Britannia and Wipro (Consumer). Prior to this, she worked as Head of Marketing & Innovation at Britannia and in leadership positions at Balsara and FCB-Ulka.

She has an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and is a Chevening scholar from the London School of Economics.

Mr. Grover leads NourishCo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Consumer. NourishCo provides meaningful hydration solutions in the non-carbonated, ready-to-drink beverages segment in India and around the world.

He joined Tata Consumer as Marketing Head for South Asia in 2010 and has played a key role in achieving several milestones for the Company’s branded tea business in India. Prior to this, he has worked with Unilever, holding significant roles such as Global Strategy and Archetypes Director for Beverages and Country Head for Beverages in India.

He has an MBA degree in Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, and is an engineering graduate from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

Mr. Kar is Head, Sales (India) for all channels for the combined Foods and Beverages portfolio. He joined Tata Consumer in August 2019. He has over 20 years of experience in Sales, Marketing & Category Management. He started his career as a graduate engineer with Tata Motors (erstwhile Tata Engineering) and worked in the Automobile and Construction Equipment businesses. After his MBA, he joined ITC Ltd. and worked with them for 16 years in various roles spanning Sales and Marketing. His interest areas include strategy, innovation and sales transformation.

He holds an MBA in Marketing & Finance from XLRI Jamshedpur. He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering, from Delhi College of Engineering.

Mr. Sony joined the Company in 2017 and has been part of various new initiatives in the organisation. He is responsible for the development and deployment of strategies and the delivery of new businesses/ acquisitions/alliances to drive the sustainable, profitable growth agenda of the Company. He also overseas the Investor Relations of the Company.

He has over 22 years of experience and has held key leadership roles in the private equity and investment banking world. He was the Director and India Head of Proterra Investment Partners and Partner at Motilal Oswal PE Fund. Before that, he successfully co-founded an investment bank. He has led multiple M&A deals and successful investments in the food and consumer space in India and has assisted companies in their strategic transformation processes.

He is a Chartered Accountant and a graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

Ms. Rao joined the Company in 2020 from Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. where she served as Assistant Vice President in the Group Legal team. In this role, Ms. Rao was responsible for working with Tata companies across many sectors including consumer retail, telecommunications, financial services and aviation. Prior to joining Tata Sons she worked with Herbert Smith Freehills, UK and Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. in New Delhi. Ms. Rao has extensive experience in the areas of mergers & acquisitions, finance, securities laws, project management, legal strategy and disputes, across multiple geographies.

She is a graduate from Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford and holds a dual degree in Bachelor of Legal Studies and Bachelor of Laws from Government Law College, Mumbai University.

Mr. Gupta is Global Head of R&D for Tata Consumer and is responsible for leading the R&D function and processes across Packaged Beverages, Packaged Foods and RTD Beverages. He joined Tata Consumer as Head of Product Innovation for India in 2013 and subsequently moved into the role of Head of Global NPD for the Beverages business. During his tenure with the Company, he has played a key role in achieving successful launches of Innovation projects across global markets.

Vikas brings with him the diverse experience of the food and beverage industry with demonstrated leadership capabilities in NPD, cost innovation and supply chain to develop and launch innovation projects. Before joining Tata Consumer, he has worked in GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd. and Unilever India Ltd.

He has a Master’s degree in Food Technology from the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysuru.

With over 27 years of experience, Mr. Thomas was appointed Managing Director & CEO of Tata Coffee, effective 1st April 2019. Previously, he served as Executive Director and Deputy CEO of Tata Coffee, where he was directly responsible for the overall delivery of the plantation transformation and instant coffee agenda.

In his previous assignment, he was associated with Kanan Devan Hills Plantation Company (KDHP) since its inception. KDHP is South India’s largest tea plantation company and an associate company of TGB. He joined the erstwhile Tata Tea in 1992 as Assistant Manager and rose to the position of MD of KDHP in 2012. Under his leadership, KDHP was awarded ‘The Best Company for Employee Involvement & Participation’ in India for 2015. He remains a Director on the Board of KDHP and serves on various boards of industry associations.

He has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Jodhpur and has completed an Advanced Management Programme from INSEAD France.