To expand beyond selling sugary drinks, enter more refreshment categories, and even pursue emerging opportunities in the region, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, has roped in Sarvita Sethi as Vice-president, Mergers Acquisitions, and new ventures.

Sethi had earlier been President Finance India and South West Asia. Now in her new role she will provide leadership to business incubation by creating alternate revenue streams in new ventures.

In the past two years, Coca Cola has introduced new products like Aquarius Glucocharge (at Rs 10) to grow its business beyond cola and cater for price-sensitive consumers. Besides scaling up these new brands or products, Sethi will be involved in conceptualising, developing and launching new products relevant to the market.

Emphasizing the importance of the newly created role, T Krishnakumar, Coca Cola President for the region said, “There are significant opportunities that lie ahead of us to grow our portfolio and meaningfully penetrate the market. It is our constant endeavour to strengthen the leadership team for strong, sustainable future growth and address developing business needs. It also reinforces our commitment towards investing in talent development."

The company made another appointment and named Harsh Bhutani as Vice President, Finance (CFO), Coca-Cola India & South West Asia, effective 1 August 2019. Bhutani, who currently heads finance and business services divisions for Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages — the bottling arm of the beverage maker—as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, has held various other finance positions at the company.

Prior to joining HCCB in 1999, he was with Swiss industrial products and solutions conglomerate — Asea Brown Boveri. Sethi, on the other hand, joined Coca Cola in 2008. Before that she has worked with Sainsbury’s and Viacom in London.

Both Bhutani and Seth are Chartered Accountants with good years of experience. Both of them bring in great experience and knowledge. As Coca Cola focuses on expansion and scaling up their current portfolio, both new appointees will play a key role in the growth of beverage company. How they lead the firm towards its next phase of growth will be interesting to follow.