Brands
KFC and Pizza Hut operator appoints Manish Dawar as CEO
GURUGRAM: Devyani International, the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut in India, has picked Manish Dawar as its next chief executive, handing the keys to its finance head at a testing moment for the business.
Dawar, cfo since 2021, will take charge from April 1, replacing Viraj Joshi, who shifts to a non-executive director role. The move keeps the succession in-house and signals a preference for financial discipline over flashy expansion.
The finance seat will not stay empty for long. Anupam Kumar, currently executive vice president – finance, is set to become cfo, completing a tightly managed shuffle at the top.
The backdrop is less than cosy. The company recently posted a sharp rise in quarterly losses, underlining pressure on margins in India’s crowded quick-service restaurant market, where discounting and delivery costs gnaw at profits.
At the same time, Devyani is swinging big on scale, announcing a $934m merger with Sapphire Foods, another major franchisee in the sector. The deal aims to bulk up store count, boost bargaining power and squeeze efficiencies from procurement to logistics.
Investors will be watching whether a numbers man in the corner office can steady earnings while digesting a large merger. In India’s fast-food wars, growth is easy to order; profits are harder to serve.
Brands
Jubilant FoodWorks faces Rs 47.5 crore GST demand, plans appeal
Tax authorities flag alleged misclassification of restaurant services
MUMBAI:Â Jubilant FoodWorks Limited has landed in a tax tussle after receiving a GST demand of Rs 47.5 crore from the office of the additional commissioner of CGST and central excise in Thane, Maharashtra.
The order, issued under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, relates to an alleged incorrect classification of certain services under the category of restaurant services. According to the tax authorities, this classification resulted in a short payment of goods and services tax for the period between the financial years 2019-20 and 2021-22.
The demand includes Rs 47.5 crore in GST along with an equal amount as penalty, in addition to applicable interest. The order was received by the company on March 13, 2026.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the company said it disagrees with the order and believes its arguments were not adequately considered.
The company is preparing to challenge the decision and plans to file an appeal. It added that once the redressal process is complete, the demand is likely to be dropped.
Despite the sizeable figure attached to the notice, the company said it does not expect any material impact on its financials, operations or other activities.
The disclosure was signed by Suman Hegde, EVP and chief financial officer, who confirmed that the company received the order at 19:06 IST on March 13 and has already initiated steps to contest it.
The development places the quick service restaurant major in the middle of a tax debate that could hinge on how certain restaurant-linked services are classified under GST rules. For now, the company appears ready to take the matter from the tax office to the appeals desk.
