SLMG Beverages Names Lagan Shastri as Chief Executive Officer
SLMG Beverages Private Limited, a top Coca-Cola bottling partner in India, has announced today the appointment of Lagan Shastri as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), starting August 10, 2026.
This significant appointment indicates the company's preparedness to initiate its next crucial phase of strategic development and worldwide expansion.
Throughout the years, SLMG Beverages has positioned itself as a leader in the Indian beverage industry by building robust customer relationships, achieving operational efficiency, and generating value.
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Considering the future, the company aims to establish one of the most respected Coca-Cola bottling enterprises globally, acknowledged for its innovation, implementation, and performance focused on long-term sustainability.
Lagan has almost 30 years of extensive commercial, operational, and general management expertise in the beverages, FMCG, and consumer products industries. A notable veteran of the Coca-Cola network, he started his career at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) as a Management Trainee. During a 20-year career, he advanced through high-level leadership positions in Sales, Marketing, Commercial Profit Centre Management, and Strategy. His path naturally advanced to his role as Executive Director – Market Operations, where he oversaw HCCB’s comprehensive market operations and co-directed the company’s strategy with the CEO.
In 2020, Lagan assumed the role of Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer at DFM Foods Limited. Throughout his time, he effectively guided the transition of the privately financed public company into a professionally managed, results-oriented entity. He later became a Strategic Advisor at Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL), providing guidance to leadership on commercial strategies and execution at the enterprise level for a growing consumer portfolio. Recently, Lagan assumed strategic advisory positions with promoters, institutions, and emerging enterprises, concentrating on governance and scaling organizations.
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His leadership is perfectly supported by this distinctive blend of deep Coca-Cola system knowledge, established experience as a public company CEO, and a wide-ranging consumer-sector viewpoint. Lagan is celebrated for an inclusive and empowering management approach, noted for creating high-performing teams, cultivating leaders, and connecting strategy with disciplined execution.
The Board of Directors, SLMG Beverages say, “The appointment of Mr. Lagan Shastri marks a monumental milestone as we prepare SLMG Beverages for its next phase of exponential growth. Lagan brings an unmatched executive pedigree across the consumer sector and deep institutional knowledge of the bottling ecosystem. The Board is fully committed to supporting him as we scale our people, manufacturing, digital, and supply chain capabilities to build one of the world’s most admired Coca-Cola bottling businesses.”
Lagan Shastri, CEO, SLMG Beverages says, “I am honoured and excited to lead SLMG Beverages at such an important stage in its growth journey. SLMG has built an exceptional foundation, anchored in deep market understanding, enduring customer and system partnerships, and a strong innovation led culture of execution. We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us to build on these strengths, accelerate growth and create an even more agile, innovative and future-ready organisation”.
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“I look forward to working closely with the Operational Board, our leadership team and colleagues across SLMG as we pursue our bold ambition of building a US$10 billion enterprise value and being recognised among the Top 10 Global Coca-Cola Bottlers, while creating sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders”.
As CEO, Lagan will guide SLMG Beverages by enhancing its market position, improving digital functions, and cultivating a culture of excellence. With his guidance, SLMG aims to realize its ambitious goal of reaching a valuation of US$10 billion while enhancing its strategic objective of being acknowledged as one of the Top 10 Global Coca-Cola Bottlers. The company will expedite investments in its workforce, production infrastructure, supply chain efficiency, and customer collaborations to create a highly resilient, future-oriented enterprise.
Lagan possesses a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) as well as a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi. He will operate from the Corporate Office in Lucknow and report straight to the Operational Board of SLMG.