Nestlé India has appointed Nitu Bhushan as its new head of human resources, marking another important step in a wider senior leadership reshuffle underway at the FMCG major.
In a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange dated December 10, the company said Bhushan will assume the role on March 2, 2026. Reuters reported that the appointment forms part of a series of senior management changes planned over the next 15 months.
Bhushan, 47, was most recently the chief human resources officer at Pernod Ricard India. She brings over 22 years of cross-industry experience spanning fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, banking and technology. Over the course of her career, she has held senior HR leadership roles at Accenture, Asian Paints, HSBC Bank, Mondelez International and Abbott.
She holds a master’s degree in personnel management and a bachelor’s degree in engineering in electronics and telecommunication.
Bhushan will succeed Anurag Patnaik, who has decided to move on and will leave the company at the end of December 2025. According to the company filing cited by Reuters, Patnaik joined Nestlé India as a management trainee in 2005 and was appointed head of human resources in February 2021, marking more than two decades with the organisation.
Her appointment comes at a time of multiple senior-level transitions at Nestlé India. Last week, the company announced that its chief financial officer, Svetlana Boldina, will step down on January 31, 2026, to take up a new role within a Nestlé affiliate, Reuters reported. The company has said that her successor will be announced in due course.
In addition, executive director–technical Satish Srinivasan is scheduled to retire on May 31, 2026. He will be succeeded by Jagdeep Singh Marahar, who will take over as whole-time director and head of technical from June 1, 2026. The legal and strategy functions are also seeing leadership exits, with long-serving general counsel Venkateswaran T.S. and group strategy head Sanjay Bahadur set to retire.
Nestlé India said the proposed leadership changes will be placed before its board following recommendations from the nomination and remuneration committee. The staggered timelines are intended to ensure operational continuity during the transition.
Market analysts view the reshuffle as a significant phase for the company as it adapts to shifting consumer preferences, increasing regulatory oversight and ongoing digital transformation in India’s highly competitive FMCG landscape.
At the global level, Nestlé has been tightening its focus on efficiency. Reuters reported in October that Nestlé SA plans to cut around 16,000 jobs over two years as part of a restructuring initiative under its new chief executive, aimed at prioritising higher-return product segments—a backdrop that underscores the strategic importance of leadership decisions in key markets such as India.
