Diageo India names Praveen Someshwar as the next MD and CEO, succeeding outgoing chief Hina Nagarajan who will be taking on a global role. Someshwar will take over as MD and CEO on April 1, 2025. HT Media recently named TikTok executive Sameer Singh as group CEO, following the resignation of Someshwar as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, with effect from February 28.
Someshwar is an experienced senior leader with 24 years in PepsiCo, prior to his HT Media experience.
In his last role at Pepsico, he led business across Asia, in the Food & Beverage spectrum. Someshwar was Senior Vice President & GM based out of Hong Kong, where he was responsible for all Pepsico businesses across the North & South East Asia. Prior to that he was the CEO for the Food business, CEO for PepsiCo’s beverage business in India & South Asia, CFO for PepsiCo’s India & South Asia business, Strategic & Financial Planning Head for Pepsico India & South Asia.
Hina Nagarajan became the Managing Director and CEO of Diageo India effective July, 2021. Earlier, she was Managing Director, Diageo – Africa Emerging Markets (AEM) since August 2018 leading business operations across Ghana, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Indian Ocean, Angola and other WACA countries.
Her key responsibilities included P&L delivery, investment, category and whitespace entry strategies, corporate governance and compliance across all the business units in her region. Under her leadership, AEM transformed to become a significant growth driver for Africa whilst doubling operating margins.
Prior to joining Diageo, Nagarajan spent over 30 years in the FMCG industry and held several leadership positions at Reckitt, Mary Kay India and Nestlé India during her career.
Read more: TikTok’s Sameer Singh to join HT Media as group CEO