Dairy major Parag Milk Foods Ltd, which offers the Go brand of cheese, has appointed Venkat Shankar as its new chief executive officer.
Shankar joins from Parag Milk Foods’ listed peer Britannia Industries Ltd, where he was a vice-president and head of the dairy business.
He will take charge with immediate effect and report to company chairman Devendra Shah and the board of directors, Parag Milk Foods said in a statement. Shankar’s mandate will be to provide strategic direction to the company and help achieve long-term and short-term objectives, it added.
“The company has built a strong and robust platform over the years and I am thrilled to be a part of this new phase of growth,” said Shankar.
A graduate of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Shankar has three decades of professional experience, including a stint as the sales director of PepsiCo’s India business.
He also served as an executive director at HT Media Ltd and as an investment director for private equity firm Peepul Capital Advisors.
Founded in 1992, Parag Milk Foods has manufacturing facilities in locations such as Maharashtra’s Manchar, Andhra Pradesh’s Palamaner and Haryana’s Sonipat.
According to its website, the company services over 15 consumer-centric product categories, including everyday dairy brand Gowardhan, farm-to-home milk brand Pride of Cows and flavoured milk brand Topp Up.
The firm made its stock market debut in 2016 after the sovereign wealth funds of Norway and Abu Dhabi joined its pool of anchor investors. Its shares were trading at Rs 274.25 apiece on the BSE, up 1.91% from the previous close, at the time of publishing this report.
Parag Milk Foods had last year acquired French food giant Danone's Indian manufacturing facility for Rs 30 crore ($4.6 million).