Britannia names Ramamurthy Jayaraman cfo, N Venkataraman to be deputy managing director

BENGALURU: Britannia Industries is shuffling its top deck, and the finance chair has a new occupant. N Venkataraman is moving from chief financial officer (CFO) to deputy managing director, while Ramamurthy Jayaraman takes over as CFO from October 1, 2026. The changes separate the company’s finance leadership from Venkataraman’s wider remit spanning strategy, legal, secretarial and information technology (IT) functions.

The appointments were announced through a regulatory filing on September 29. Venkataraman, who currently serves as whole-time director and CFO, will step down as CFO while continuing as whole-time director and key managerial personnel. His appointment as deputy managing director, for the remainder of his existing term until July 29, 2030, is subject to shareholder approval.

In his expanded role, Venkataraman will oversee finance, strategy, legal, secretarial and IT. He will work alongside Rakshit Hargave, chief executive and managing director, on the company’s transformation agenda.

A dedicated head for finance

Jayaraman, currently vice-president of corporate finance, will become CFO and key managerial personnel with effect from October 1. He will head financial planning and analysis, taxation, treasury, shared services and business commercial functions.

The restructuring effectively creates a clearer division between the company’s broader corporate and strategic responsibilities and the day-to-day leadership of its finance function. Britannia has also designated Hargave, Venkataraman, Jayaraman and company secretary Sona Rajora as the key managerial personnel authorised to determine the materiality of events and make disclosures to the stock exchanges.

The two men behind the move

Venkataraman has been with Britannia since April 2007 and has around four decades of professional experience. Before Britannia, he headed finance functions at Eicher Motors’ two-wheeler and commercial vehicle businesses. He began his career at Hindustan Aeronautics as a management trainee and subsequently worked as a senior finance executive at its joint venture with British Aerospace.

Jayaraman has spent 15 years with Britannia across finance roles and has more than 22 years of professional experience. A qualified chartered accountant and company secretary, he previously worked with PwC and Deloitte, including on audits of listed and unlisted companies.

A transition in roles rather than a change in the finance remit

The management rejig keeps Venkataraman involved in finance while assigning the operational leadership of the function to Jayaraman. Venkataraman’s new mandate combines finance with strategy, legal, secretarial and IT, while Jayaraman assumes responsibility for the core finance verticals. The transition comes as Britannia continues under Hargave’s leadership, with the company positioning the new structure around a division of responsibilities across its senior management. The appointments take effect on October 1, subject to the applicable approval for Venkataraman’s elevation.

What does this add up to? Three things stand out. First, the succession is home-grown. Jayaraman has spent 15 years inside Britannia, so the finance function passes to someone who knows the company’s numbers, and its people, from the inside. Second, the split is tidy. One executive, Jayaraman, runs the finance engine day to day, from planning and analysis to tax, treasury and shared services. The other, Venkataraman, gets the wider canvas of strategy, legal, secretarial and IT, and can spend more time on the transformation agenda with Hargave. Third, continuity is built in. Venkataraman, with nearly two decades at the company and around four decades of experience, stays on as whole-time director and keeps a hand in finance, so the institutional memory does not walk out of the door. Add the clear list of officers authorised to decide on materiality and stock exchange disclosures, and the governance picture looks well ordered.