Britannia CEO Varun Berry quits abruptly, Hargave to take over on 15 Dec

New Delhi: Britannia Industries Ltd on Monday announced a sudden departure of Varun Berry as executive vice-chairman, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), bringing an end to his nearly 13-year tenure at the packaged foods major.

The company named Rakshit Hargave as its next managing director and CEO, effective 15 December 2025, for a period of five years. In the interim, N. Venkataraman, executive director and chief financial officer, will hold additional charge as CEO until Hargave takes over. On 5 November, the company had announced Hargave’s appointment as CEO at the biscuit maker.

In a letter dated 6 November, Berry wrote to chairman Nusli Wadia, tendering his resignation and proposing to serve out his notice period as per his employment contract.

“Thank you very much for your support for the past 13 years. I would like to tender my resignation from the position of CEO and Managing Director of Britannia Industries Ltd. Will serve my notice period as per the contract. Please treat Nov 6, 2025 as the date of my resignation. I will be available beyond my departure from the company to guide Rakshit in whichever way you may want. I hope Britannia goes from strength to strength in the coming years,” Berry wrote in his resignation, a copy of which has been filed with the exchanges.

However, the board of directors, on the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, accepted his resignation and waived off the notice period, relieving him of his responsibilities effective the close of business hours on 10 November 2025.

During the company’s earnings call held last week, Berry said Hargave is the “perfect choice” for the role.

“As a portfolio between him and me, he is going to handle the entire business, and my job will be to help him whenever he needs help. I will not be directly handling anything as he joins. My job will be to make sure that he settles down absolutely well in the role,” he said during the company’s post-earnings analyst call held on 7 November.

New Management

Hargave joins Britannia from Birla Opus, the paints venture of Grasim Industries (Aditya Birla Group), where he served as CEO. Prior to Birla Opus, Hargave held leadership, operational, and marketing roles at Beiersdorf (makers of Nivea), Hindustan Unilever, Jubilant FoodWorks, Nestlé India, and Tata Motors, both in India and overseas.

He is an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi, and holds a degree in electrical engineering from IIT Varanasi.

The Berry Era

Berry joined the company as vice president & chief operating officer on 1 February 2013. He has over 27 years of experience with companies like Hindustan Unilever and PepsiCo. Berry was given several promotions by chairman Wadia, including being named executive director in November 2013.

He took over as managing director (MD) from Vinita Bali in April 2014. He was reappointed MD for a period of five years starting 1 April 2019.

In FY13, the company’s sales stood at ₹5,564.38 crore, the year Berry was appointed as chief operating officer. In FY25, the company’s standalone revenue from operations stood at ₹17,295.92 crore.

Berry firmed up the company’s positioning as a “total foods” business, moving it away from its focus on biscuits and cookies to expand into categories such as croissants, wafers, and dairy drinks, driving market share gains. It also expanded its cheese portfolio with its 2022 joint venture with French cheese maker Bel SA to sell the latter’s The Laughing Cow brand in India.

Between March 2020 and March 2025, the company increased the number of rural-preferred dealers from 19,000 to 31,000, per its FY25 annual report.

Meanwhile, analysts tracking the company described Berry’s resignation as “abrupt.”

“Stock will see some knee-jerk negative reaction given the abrupt end to a fantastic 13-year tenure of Varun Berry. Departure clearly seems abrupt and sudden, something we have earlier also seen in Britannia. Even predecessor Vinita Bali was suddenly shifted to a small role when Varun Berry had joined. Having said that, Varun is around 63 years old. The new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company, Rakshit Hargave, comes with a strong track record in Birla Opus, HUL, Dominos etc.,” said Abneesh Roy of Nuvama Institutional Equities.

“Over time, Berry brought back both growth and margins to the company. However, we do see this exit as abrupt as the Street was expecting Berry to help with the transition to the new CEO. For instance, he pushed the company’s products in the Hindi heartland with lower price packs—a market where the company was under-indexed. Historically, Parle has always led the biscuit category; Varun brought volume and growth for Britannia. He also helped premiumize the portfolio,” said another analyst speaking to Mint on the condition of anonymity.

Britannia competes with Parle Products and ITC Ltd—between the three, they hold nearly 70% market share of the country’s biscuit category, per analyst estimates.

In September 2022, Berry was elevated to executive vice-chairman and managing director at the cookie maker with immediate effect. The company brought in Rajneet Singh Kohli as chief executive officer with effect from 26 September. Kohli also stepped down from his role earlier this year.

At its meeting on 5 November 2025, Britannia’s Board of Directors outlined key growth levers to help the company evolve into a global total foods player. These include driving innovation and diversification, tackling regional competition through stronger cost efficiencies, boosting profitability via top-line growth and market share gains.