Gurugram, Haryana, India, March 2026 — VARUN BEVERAGES LIMITED (VBL) has appointed Animesh Gupta as Vice President – Procurement. In this role, he will lead Strategic Sourcing & Procurement (Non-RM) for RJ Corp group companies, including Varun Beverages, Devyani International, and Devyani Food Industries, across operations in India, South Asia, and Africa.
Animesh steps into the position with extensive leadership experience spanning multi-country operations, P&L-linked commercial governance, and large-scale procurement transformation. His appointment supports VBL’s continued scale-up across markets, with a focus on procurement governance, sourcing efficiency, and supply continuity across a broad operating footprint.
Before joining Varun Beverages Limited, Animesh Gupta was associated with The Middleby Corporation as a regional business head in East Asia and earlier in India & South Asia, where he led multi-market commercial portfolios and worked across business development, supply chain and techno-commercial strategy in a multi-brand ecosystem.
Earlier, he worked with Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd., where he led centralised sourcing and Capex governance to support nationwide expansion, driving cost leadership, execution reliability, and procurement digitisation initiatives.
He also held procurement leadership responsibilities with Escorts Limited, focusing on purchasing for final assembly operations across multiple plants, and earlier served with John Deere, where he helped establish end-to-end supply chain capabilities for a new manufacturing facility.
In an earlier chapter of his career, Animesh Gupta worked with Bharti Infratel Limited, supporting procurement and operational continuity across a large telecom infrastructure network, and spent close to a decade with Honda Cars India Ltd., where he led multi-category sourcing and supply chain initiatives focused on cost, quality, and operational optimisation.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology.
About Varun Beverages Limited
Varun Beverages Limited (VBL) is one of the top FMCG players in the Indian market and has a presence in 14 countries across the Indian sub-continent and Africa. The company produces and distributes beverage brands including Pepsi, Mirinda, 7UP, Mountain Dew, Slice, Aquafina, Sting, Tropicana, and Gatorade, among others, and is committed to delivering a refreshing beverage experience to consumers.
In India, VBL is the second-largest franchisee partner for PepsiCo (outside the US) and is powered by a workforce of 10,000+ employees. The company also highlights its commitment to ESG principles, community initiatives, and a governance framework focused on accountability and sustainability.
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