Ravi Jaipuria’s RJ Corp has hired former Diageo executive Prathmesh Mishra as the Indian beverage group explores a deeper push into premium alcoholic drinks, extending a diversification strategy that is moving beyond the soft-drink business on which the group built its scale.
Mishra, most recently managing director for Diageo’s Japan and Korea operations, is expected to help shape RJ Corp’s proposed alcohol expansion, with people familiar with the appointment pointing to his extensive industry experience. He previously served as Diageo India’s chief commercial officer and has also worked at Pernod Ricard and Mohan Meakins.
The hire lands as the commercial boundaries around RJ Corp’s beverage operations are widening. In May, listed bottling arm Varun Beverages revised its exclusive bottling agreement with PepsiCo, extending the India arrangement to April 2049 while removing a restriction that had required the company to operate solely as a special-purpose vehicle for PepsiCo’s business.
Varun had already signalled where some of that freedom might lead. In February, the company proposed adding alcoholic beverages to the main objects of its memorandum of association, explicitly covering categories including beer, wine, whisky, gin, rum and vodka in India and overseas.
The timing is commercially favourable. Indian spirits volumes rose 4% to 440 million cases in FY26, accelerating from 1.6% growth the previous year, while beer volumes increased 4% to 474 million cases, according to executives citing excise data. Premium products drove much of the spirits recovery as regular-category demand remained weaker.
That puts RJ Corp closer to a category already contested by Diageo, Pernod Ricard and domestic producers such as Radico Khaitan. Entering it, however, requires a different operating playbook from carbonated soft drinks. India’s alcohol market is fragmented by state excise regimes, licensing requirements and differing routes to retail, making regulatory execution as important as distribution scale.
RJ Corp is also examining beer. The Economic Times reported that the group is evaluating opportunities including a possible stake in B9 Beverages, owner of Bira 91. The brewer is going through a restructuring after founder Ankur Jain relinquished control and stepped down from executive and board roles following a settlement with lenders and institutional shareholders.
Varun already has some exposure to beer distribution outside India through its agreement with Carlsberg in selected African markets. Drinkabl.media has tracked the bottler’s wider diversification, including its expansion across Southern Africa and acquisition of Twizza. That strategy increasingly resembles a broader beverage platform rather than a business defined only by PepsiCo bottling.
For RJ Corp, Mishra’s appointment adds alcohol-market operating experience just as the corporate restrictions around diversification have loosened. The next meaningful signal will be whether that preparation produces an acquisition, a brand partnership or a direct entry into India’s increasingly valuable premium spirits market.
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