Vikas Bhomia takes charge of growth and performance at Birla Opus

MUMBAI: From fashion racks to paint cans, the Aditya Birla Group is keeping its talent in the family. Vikas Bhomia has taken on a new internal opportunity as lead, growth and performance, at Birla Opus, the group’s paints venture, working from Mumbai with effect from October 2026.

Bhomia comes to the job after more than five years at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, which runs Pantaloons. His final post there was general manager, from February 2025 to October 2026. Before that he was group manager, e-commerce, from January 2023 to February 2025, and manager, e-commerce, from February 2021 to January 2023, leading operations for the Pantaloons e-commerce business, including pantaloons.com and other business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) partners.

His first spell at Pantaloons ran from 2014 to 2019. He joined as a management trainee in January 2014, working on a live marketing research project. He became assistant manager, marketing, in July 2014 in Gurgaon, and deputy manager, marketing, from August 2016 to January 2018. There he carried out 360-degree marketing campaigns from planning to execution, handled planning and budgeting for all stores, and developed market-wise and store-wise above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) plans for existing and new stores. He also ran seasonal, festival and end-of-season sale campaigns, with a strong focus on processes and standard operating procedures.

From February 2018 to August 2019 he was deputy manager, e-commerce, responsible for sales numbers for pantaloons.com. His brief covered website development, testing and updating, promotion and offer design to drive business, and operational cost optimisation across warehousing, logistics, packaging, customer care operations and training.

In between, Bhomia spent a year and three months, from September 2019 to November 2020, as manager, activations, at VIP Industries Limited in the Mumbai region. He was responsible for trade marketing for 503 exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) and more than 1,500 other retail stores (ORS) and modern trade stores, in a business of Rs 1,700 crore across channels, covering pan-India activations, brand visibility, alliances, and campaign planning and execution.

His earlier career was in science and teaching. He was a project assistant at CEERI Pilani from May 2010 to June 2011, working under renowned scientists on a national project on gyrotron development. He then lectured at KEYSTONE Group of Institutions from June 2011 to July 2012 and was a teaching assistant at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, from August 2012 to December 2013. He holds a master of business administration (MBA) from BITS Pilani.

Announcing the move, Bhomia said he is “immensely grateful” to his mentors Sandeep Pal and Rohit Indumukhi, and to his colleagues at Pantaloons, for an amazing journey. He added that he is thrilled to dive into new growth challenges with the team at Opus.

Three things stand out. First, the skill set. Bhomia’s profile lists e-commerce operations, market research, loyalty management and competitive analysis. A growth and performance brief at a young consumer brand needs exactly that mix of customer data, digital sales and sharp marketing.

Second, the range. He has worked in marketing, e-commerce, trade activations and research, and across both online and offline channels. The VIP Industries stint, with 503 exclusive outlets and more than 1,500 other stores, gives him a feel for how brands reach consumers through physical retail. His time on pantaloons.com shows he understands the digital side too.

Third, the continuity. This is an internal move within the Aditya Birla Group, after a long run at Pantaloons that took him from management trainee to general manager. A company that moves a proven operator into a new venture is making a clear bet on him. For Bhomia, the switch from fashion to paints is a fresh test of the same growth skills.