Board of Directors

Mr. Sunil Kataria is currently the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Godrej Agrovet Limited (Holding Company).

Mr. Sunil Kataria is a seasoned business leader with over thirty years of rich experience in the CPG, telecom, and retail sectors. He has a proven track record of leading large- scale business transformations and building future-ready organizations. He is also an expert in sales, marketing, business strategy, and organizational leadership.

Mr. Sunil Kataria previously served as the Managing Director of Raymond Lifestyle Limited (RLL), overseeing a diverse portfolio of six businesses. Before joining Raymond, he spent 11 successful years at Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL), as CEO of the India & SAARC cluster from 2015 to 2022. He began his career at Marico, where he spent over a decade honing his skills in marketing and sales.

His industry contributions also include serving as Chairman of the Indian Society of Advertisers and holding board positions at the Broadcasting Audience Research Committee (BARC) and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

Mr. Sunil Kataria holds a degree in Economics from Delhi University and an MBA in Marketing from the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad. He has been recognised among India’s top business leaders and is a firm believer in ‘possibility thinking’, seamlessly blending strategic vision with flawless execution.

Nadir B. Godrej, is the Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Godrej Agrovet Limited (GAVL). He has a Bachelor's degree in Science from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Harvard University. He has been associated with GAVL since November 25, 1991. Nadir has rich experience in leading businesses, and has played an important role in developing the Animal Feed, Crop Protection and Chemicals businesses owned by the Godrej group. His active interest in research related to these areas has resulted in several patents in the field of Agricultural Chemicals and Surfactants, for our company. He is the recipient of the CHEMTECH CEW Leadership & Excellence Award 2013 and the 'Hall of Fame - Chemicals Award' - CHEMTECH CEW Leadership & Excellence Award 2017. He is also the recipient of various awards from the CHEMTECH Foundation in honour of his contribution to the Indian chemical industry. Nadir is a member of the CII National Council, was the Chairman of the CII National Committee on Chemicals and the President of Alliance Française de Bombay. For his contribution to Indo-French relations, the French Government has honoured him with the awards of "Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite" and "Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur". He was appointed as a Director of our company with effect from November 25, 1991

Ms. Anjali Rajesh Gupte holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce and is a qualified Chartered Accountant & Cost Accountant.

Ms. Gupte has over 30 years of experience, having handled various functions in Finance across a varied range of industries, including Media, Financial Services, Manufacturing and Real Estate. Key areas of expertise include strategic business partnering, financial reporting, controllership, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, business integration and reorganising business for growth and compliance.

In her recent assignments, Ms. Gupte was Director and Group Chief Financial Officer for Havas Group, India (2021-2023) and as Chief Financial Officer, South Asia for Grey Worldwide (2016-2021). Prior to this, she was the Head of Finance, South Asia & Director for Thomson Reuters India Private Limited (2008-2014) and Finance Manager, South Asia & Director at Reuters India (1998-2008). Ms. Gupte worked as a Finance Manager in Godrej Properties & Investment Limited (1995-1997) and as a Finance Executive in Gujarat Godrej Innovative Chemicals Limited (1993-1995).

S. Varadaraj is Chief Financial Officer and Head - Legal & IT, Godrej Agrovet Limited (GAVL). Varadaraj took over as the Head of Finance and Systems in 2005. In 2010, he also took on the additional responsibility of the Legal and Secretarial functions of GAVL and its group companies. A Commerce graduate and a Chartered Accountant, Varadaraj is also a qualified Cost Accountant and holds a Master's degree in Financial Management. He joined GAVL as a Management Trainee in May 1994. Varadaraj has been the recipient of several awards and certificates, such as the 'CA-CFO Award in the Agricultural Sector' from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, 'CFO 100 Award' from the CFO Institute for three consecutive years and a 'Certificate of Merit - CMA CFO Award in the category of Private-Manufacturing' from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India. His hobbies include trekking and playing cricket and squash.

Bhupendra Suri is the CEO of Creamline Dairy Products Limited. His prolific career spans nearly three decades of which 23 years were with Coca-Cola where he performed various roles in Sales, Distribution, Supply Chain, RTM and Franchise Bottling Operations. He led Coca-Cola’s national Franchise Bottling Operations business in India. He was the Managing Director of Coca-Cola Nigeria till 2019. His last stint was as CEO for Devyani Food Industries Limited where he was responsible for running the Creambell Ice-cream business in India. He has also worked with Bajaj Auto Limited and Asian Paints Limited. Bhupendra did his B Tech from IIT BHU, Varanasi and completed his PGDBM from XLRI, Jamshedpur. Bhupendra is an avid reader and a published author of two books.

Mr. Jude Fernandes has vast experience in FMCG sector. He has 3 decades of handling high- pressure FMCG majors participating in exceeding competitive categories and successful launches of innumerable brands for Amrutanjan, GCPL, Godrej Agrovet, TTK Prestige, Big Bazaar, Lipton India, LIC, Union Bank, P&GG etc.

He has completed his B.Com. (Hons) from St. Xavier’s College Calcutta.

He started his career in 1982 with major companies heading the key roles.

From 2001- 2007, he was the President of Mudra Communication in Mumbai

Responsible for turning this office into Mudra’s largest profit centre and the star of the Group. Responsibility revolved around building this office into a complete agency capable of handling the largest clients, building dedicated teams to provide top class inputs to the clients.

From 2007 to 2011, he was the Executive Director of Mudra Communications and CEO of Mudra India Responsible for Mudra’s largest profit centre. Integration of the agency’s ATL and BTL offerings. Growth of South India branches, training and development of next line of key managers. Retention of key accounts and aggressive new business development.

From 2011 till date, he is the Corporate Advisor to L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, a top 10 advertising agency and Mentor to the MD and CEO. Responsibilities cover implementation of best agency management practices, advisory on key FMCG clients.

Mr. Kannan Sitaram ("Kannan"), aged 63, is B. Tech from IIT, Madras and MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. He has participated in executive programs at Carnegie Mellon and Kellogg Business School.

Mr. Kannan has over 3 decades of experience building consumer product businesses in India. He started his career with Ponds (India) Limited and had several stints as a Sales and Brand and Category Manager. He moved to Hindustan Lever Limited ("HLL") in 1993, post Unilever's global acquisition of Chesebrough Ponds. At HLL, he held several Senior Leadership positions first as National Sales Manager for the rapidly growing personal products business, then as National Sales Manager for the Detergents business, at that time India's largest consumer product business. In these roles he led HLL's thrust into rural markets and played a key role in several restructuring initiatives. He, thereafter, was Head of Marketing for HLL's large beverages business where he led the consolidation of the tea business under 2 brands - Brooke Bond and Lipton. He then moved to Unilever's corporate Head Quarter in London in 2002 to join the Corporate Strategy Group where he worked with Unilever's Executive Committee to develop Unilever's global corporate strategy across the foods, home care and personal care businesses.

In 2006, Mr. Kannan joined Dabur India Limited, a leading Indian CPG company as Chief Operating Officer responsible for Dabur's consumer product businesses in India, Nepal and Bangladesh including foods, health care, personal care and home care. His leadership challenges during this assignment included accelerating Dabur's revenue and profit growth and successfully integrating 2 acquisitions - Balsara and Fem.

In 2010, Kannan joined India Equity Partners (IEP) as an Operating Partner where he worked with the investing team exploring investments in the consumer products sector and as CEO of Innovative Foods, a company in the frozen foods business. He successfully managed IEP's exit from Innovative Foods to Peepul Capital. He left Innovative Foods in 2017 to join the board at Fireside as Venture Partner.

Fireside is a venture capital fund focused on investing in early stage consumer companies and Mr. Kannan mentors many of these young companies. Mr. Kannan was appointed as a Director of Godrej Agrovet Limited with effect from June 17, 2019.