Brands
PepsiCo India names Rinkesh Satija as VP, supply chain ops India & South Asia
Seasoned operations leader takes charge of India and South Asia
MUMBAI: Rinkesh Satija has been elevated to vice president – supply chain operations, India and South Asia at PepsiCo, stepping into a role that puts him at the helm of the end to end supply chain for the company’s foods business across India and three other countries.
In his expanded mandate, Satija will oversee agri sourcing, supply chain planning, manufacturing, logistics, capacity expansion, quality and food safety, environment, health and safety, as well as continuous improvement. He will also drive digital transformation initiatives while advancing PepsiCo’s pep plus sustainability agenda.
With over 13 years at PepsiCo, Satija has steadily moved up the ranks. Most recently, as senior director – supply chain, foods operations for the India region, he led integrated operations across sourcing, planning, manufacturing and warehousing. Earlier, as director – supply chain for logistics, distribution and transportation, he spearheaded network optimisation efforts and strengthened integrated planning systems during the pandemic to ensure business continuity.
Beyond operational efficiency, Satija has been a strong advocate for productivity acceleration, people development and embedding sustainability into everyday business processes.
Sharing his thoughts at the PepsiCo presents voices of harvest awards, powered by Lay’s, he said he was delighted to be part of a platform celebrating partnerships that give purpose to business. Calling PepsiCo “an agri company at heart”, he reiterated the company’s commitment to farmers and communities through its partnership of progress. He is set to join a panel discussion titled seeding change – creating the ecosystem for transformation, focusing on how collaboration can create lasting impact.
Satija also serves as an independent director at IITI Drishti CPS Foundation, a technology innovation hub at IIT Indore under the national mission on interdisciplinary cyber physical systems, reflecting his interest in the intersection of industry and digital innovation.
An engineer by training, with a mechanical engineering degree from Rajasthan Technical University and a postgraduate diploma in business administration from Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, Satija began his career at Haldia Petrochemicals and Larsen and Toubro before moving into senior leadership roles at Akzo Nobel India.
From factory floors to boardrooms, his journey has been shaped by scale, systems and sustainability. Now, with a wider regional brief at PepsiCo, the focus shifts to making the supply chain not just faster and leaner, but smarter and greener too.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
