Private dairy company Parag Milk Foods has been strengthening its leadership team with strategic hirings over the past few months. It has also created new positions including Chief Operations Officer and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

For its Chief Financial Officer post, the company has roped in Vimal Agarwal, who has joined after a 17-year stint at PepsiCo India. Amarendra Sathe, has come on board as CCO, earlier held a senior position at Kimberly-Clark India.

Harshad Joshi, a dairy technologist with long stints at companies like Mother Dairy, has joined Parag as COO. The company has also roped in Niharendu Sarkar for the newly created position of Senior Vice-President-Logistics and Supply Chain; he was earlier with VIP Industries.

Devendra Shah, Chairman, Parag Milk Foods, told BusinessLine : “All these senior executives are seasoned professionals with long stints in the FMCG sector. As a strategy, we are focusing on becoming a strong national FMCG dairy company and putting more emphasis on growing our consumer business. With the support of the new senior leadership team, we are aiming at double digit growth this fiscal.”

Regional push

The company, which is eyeing a stronger market share in the North and North-East, has hired Rajneesh Vasudevan as VP-Sales for those regions. It has also taken on board Vinay Jain, who earlier worked with Amway, as Business Head for Health and Nutrition business.

Chairman Shah said Parag has been working with a third-party consultancy firm to streamline supply chain and logistics to make its products available in a higher number of retail outlets.

A recent analyst report by Angel Broking said Parag Milk Foods has been successful in creating strong brands like GO and Gowardhan, and in introducing new products such as whey protein in the Indian market. “ It has become a strong player in the processed cheese segment in a short span of time and commands a 33 per cent market share. The rising revenue share of high-margin value-added products is likely to boost its margins in the coming years,” the report said.