Diageo India Appoints Praveen Someshwar as New MD and CEO
Diageo India has appointed Praveen Someshwar as the new MD and CEO, succeeding Hina Nagarajan, who will transition to a global role. Someshwar will assume his new position on April 1, 2025. Meanwhile, HT Media has appointed Sameer Singh, previously of TikTok, as group CEO, following Someshwar’s resignation as Managing Director and CEO, effective February 28.
Someshwar is an experienced senior leader with 24 years in PepsiCo, before 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 North & South East Asia. Before that, he was the CEO of the Food business, CEO of PepsiCo’s beverage business in India & South Asia, CFO for PepsiCo’s India & South Asia business, and 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, the Indian Ocean, Angola, and other WACA countries.
Her key responsibilities encompassed P&L management, investment strategies, category and whitespace entry, as well as overseeing corporate governance and compliance across all business units in her region. Under her leadership, AEM became a major growth driver for Africa, while also doubling its operating margins.
Before joining Diageo, Nagarajan spent over 30 years in the FMCG industry, holding leadership roles at Reckitt, Mary Kay India, and Nestlé India.