THE MAN WHO LED PEPSICO'S HOME RUN INTO INDIA

Suman transited recently, I have a deep sense of gratitude, a feeling of quiet joy for what he did for all of us.

- Subroto Chattopadhyay

I would never exchange the productive years, the wonderful colleagues who are now friends, the finest brands in the world and those intense crisp meetings, the long gruelling AOPs and Strat Plan sessions with Suman.

THIS IS MY MODEST contribution to the memory of Priya Mohan “Suman” Sinha to whom I owe much. Before I write about Suman and Pepsi I have to mention that PepsiCo opened its innings in India with Ramesh Vangal and his band of outstanding managers who launched brand Pepsi in India in the late 1980s. For the record, Pepsi was the first FDI ever on a road that was rough and twisted. Suman took over the leadership of PepsiCo in the mid-1990s.

Launching a mix of a brown and greenfield venture is in itself very challenging, and to set up complex bottling systems, navigating regulatory norms, setting up distribution, building brands and supply chains, makes it an exhilarating ride. All this has to be done by rapidly recruiting a pool of talented and committed people – this is not easy.

And in PepsiCo’s case, the company was up against an 800-pound gorilla called Coca-Cola. Those who have been in the game, would realise how difficult it is to battle for a sustainable business in these circumstances. PepsiCo did this and more with great style and flourish. That’s a lot of heavy lifting.

Many would remember that the Pepsi launch in India was, in a word, grand. The advertising sizzled as it created a new paradigm, using celebrities like never before, who in turn believed that being a part of Pepsi added to their brand value. Film stars and cricketers lined up and were woven into the story by Ravi Dhariwal, Sanjeev Chaddha and Vibha Rishi. The likes of Shishir Lal and Gautham laid the business pipelines and Brand Pepsi soared. It was a large cast.