Britannia to flatten hierarchy as new MD outlines open culture shift

Britannia Industries will move towards a way of working without hierarchy and aim to foster an open and approachable culture, its new managing director and chief executive officer Rakshit Hargave informed employees on his first day at the company, as per a report by The Economic Times. Addressing employees during a town hall on Monday, Hargave stated that he would remain accessible to all levels of staff and would travel extensively across markets and manufacturing plants, people aware of the development said.

Hargave has taken over from Varun Berry, who stepped down last month from his roles as managing director, vice-chairman and chief executive officer. The Nusli Wadia-backed company has also appointed Subhashis Basu as chief business officer for dairy, Britannia said in an exchange filing. Basu will additionally lead Britannia’s joint venture with France’s Bel SA, which was established in late 2022 to develop, manufacture and market cheese products.

Basu joined the company on Monday and was previously chief executive officer of Anik Milk Products, backed by French dairy firm Lactalis India, and chief commercial director at Lactalis India. He succeeds Abhishek Sinha, who has been appointed chief sales transformation officer with effect from December 15, according to the filing. An email seeking comment from Britannia remained unanswered until press time on Tuesday.

Hargave, in a LinkedIn post on Monday, wrote that he looked forward to working together to build a total foods global company. Berry stepped down after nearly 13 years at the helm, during which he led the maker of GoodDay and NutriChoice biscuits through a phase of premiumisation and expansion into categories such as cheese and dairy. Berry had previously held leadership roles at PepsiCo and Hindustan Unilever before joining Britannia in 2013.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal, in a note issued soon after Berry’s exit, stated that he steered Britannia through one of India’s strongest turnaround stories, noting that profit margins nearly tripled during his tenure and operating margins rose from 7 per cent in FY13 to 18 per cent in FY25. The Economic Times was the first to report on November 5 that Hargave, who joined from Birla Opus, the paints business of Grasim Industries under the Aditya Birla Group, would succeed Berry.

Hargave was instrumental in scaling Birla Opus’s decorative paints business and has previously held leadership roles at Beiersdorf, Unilever and Nestlé. These developments come amid intensifying competition for legacy consumer goods companies from regional and digital-first brands.

For the July–September quarter, Britannia reported a 23 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to ₹655 crore, while consolidated revenue from operations increased 4.1 per cent year-on-year to ₹4,840 crore. The company’s board has identified innovation, diversification, global expansion, cost efficiencies and addressing regional competition as core levers for its next phase of growth.