SLMG Beverages Private Limited, one of India’s leading Coca-Cola bottling partners, today officially announced the appointment of Mr. Lagan Shastri as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective August 10, 2026. This landmark appointment signals the company's readiness to embark on its next major phase of strategic growth and global expansion.
Over the years, SLMG Beverages has established itself at the forefront of the Indian beverage market through strong customer partnerships, operational excellence, and value creation. Looking at the future, the company aspires to build one of the world’s most admired Coca-Cola bottling businesses, recognized globally for its innovation, execution, and long-term sustainability driven performance.
Lagan brings nearly three decades of deep commercial, operational, and general management experience across the beverages, FMCG, and consumer products sectors. A distinguished veteran of the Coca-Cola ecosystem, he began his career with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) as a Management Trainee. Over a twenty-year tenure, he progressed through senior leadership roles spanning Sales, Marketing, Commercial Profit Centre Management, and Strategy. His journey logically progressed to his appointment as Executive Director – Market Operations, where he managed HCCB’s end-to-end market operations and co-led the enterprise’s strategy alongside the CEO.
In 2020, Lagan took over as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of DFM Foods Limited. During his tenure, he successfully led the transformation of the private equity-backed listed company into a professionally managed, performance-driven organization. He subsequently joined Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL) as Strategic Advisor, advising leadership on commercial strategy and enterprise level execution across an expanding consumer portfolio. Most recently, Lagan undertook strategic advisory roles with promoters, institutions, and emerging businesses, focusing on governance and organizational scaling.
This unique combination of deep Coca-Cola system expertise, proven experience of being a public-company’s CEO , and a broad consumer-sector perspective perfectly underpins his leadership. Known for an inclusive and empowering management style, Lagan is recognized for building high-performing teams, developing leaders, and aligning strategy with disciplined execution.
Official Statement from the Board of Directors, SLMG Beverages:
"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."
Statement from Mr. Lagan Shastri, CEO, SLMG Beverages:
“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. 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 lead SLMG Beverages by strengthening its market leadership, advancing digital capabilities, and fostering a culture of high performance. Under his leadership, SLMG will pursue its bold ambition of becoming an enterprise valued at US$10 billion while advancing its strategic aspiration to be recognized among the Top 10 Global Coca-Cola Bottlers. The company will accelerate investments in its people, manufacturing infrastructure, supply chain excellence, and customer partnerships to build a highly resilient, future-ready enterprise.
Lagan holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi. He will be based out of the Corporate Office in Lucknow and report directly to the Operational Board of SLMG.