Retail people moves in India: September 2026

September 2026 in numbers

Our count for the month is 18 leadership changes spread across 13 companies. Of these, 13 were appointments, 3 were promotions and 2 were exits. The split matters for founders watching hiring: most of the activity was companies bringing in new senior talent rather than reshuffling internally.

Which companies made more than one senior move?

Practo is the clearest case. On 17 Sep it promoted Shashank ND to executive chairman and appointed Jagnoor Singh as CEO, Siddhartha Nihalani as COO-B2C, Rowel Coelho as COO-B2B and Abhinav Lal as chief scientist. That is five of the month's 18 changes at one company, and it covers both the top job and operating roles.

Epigamia made two appointments on 15 Sep, naming Mansi Modi as marketing head and Rahul Bhagat as manufacturing lead. The pair sits on either side of the business, one on demand and one on supply.

Where did beauty, personal care and food brands hire?

Consumer brands were active through the month. Sirona appointed Nidhi Vohra as chief business officer on 1 Sep. Honasa Consumer promoted Nishchay Bahl to chief business officer - offline on 8 Sep, and Dot & Key appointed Siddharth Vaya as senior vice president and business head the same day. Amorepacific India appointed Vidushi Goyal as business head, Premium Division on 26 Sep. In food, McCain Foods promoted Aditya Krishna to MD, India on 7 Sep, and Savorworks appointed Archit Bagaria as co-founder on 18 Sep.

Retail and consumer-facing groups also filled senior roles. Asian Paints appointed Leo Puri as chairman on 7 Sep, Boldfit appointed Oliver Kaye as chief operating officer on 3 Sep, and Da Milano Group appointed Piyush Singh as Group CEO on 14 Sep.

Notable leadership changes

• Practo, 17 Sep: Shashank ND moved to executive chairman and Jagnoor Singh came in as CEO, alongside three other senior appointments on the same day.
• Asian Paints, 7 Sep: Leo Puri was appointed chairman, a board-level change rather than an operating one.
• Da Milano Group, 14 Sep: Piyush Singh was appointed Group CEO, putting one person across the group's businesses.
• McCain Foods, 7 Sep: Aditya Krishna was promoted to MD, India, an internal move to the top India role.
• Honasa Consumer, 8 Sep: Nishchay Bahl was promoted to chief business officer - offline, pointing to a dedicated offline remit.
• Myntra, 29 Sep: Sunder Balasubramanian is leaving the role of Chief Marketing Officer, one of the month's two exits.

The other exit was Rajiv Aggarwal, leaving the role of head of public affairs and ESG at Samsung India, reported on 15 Sep.

What it means for retail operators

Two patterns are worth tracking. First, promotions to top roles were few: three of 18 changes. Most companies went outside for senior talent, which suggests founders are buying in experience rather than growing it internally at this level. Second, the roles being filled are operating roles — chief business officers, COOs, business heads and manufacturing leads — not only board seats. For operators, that means the competition for senior commercial and supply-chain talent is real, and offline and manufacturing remits in particular are being staffed with dedicated leaders.

All 18 leadership changes in September 2026

• 1 Sep: Sirona appointed Nidhi Vohra as chief business officer.
• 3 Sep: Boldfit appointed Oliver Kaye as chief operating officer.
• 7 Sep: Asian Paints appointed Leo Puri as chairman.
• 7 Sep: McCain Foods promoted Aditya Krishna to MD, India.
• 8 Sep: Honasa Consumer promoted Nishchay Bahl to chief business officer - offline.
• 8 Sep: Dot & Key appointed Siddharth Vaya as senior vice president and business head.
• 14 Sep: Da Milano Group appointed Piyush Singh as Group CEO.
• 15 Sep: Epigamia appointed Mansi Modi as marketing head.
• 15 Sep: Epigamia appointed Rahul Bhagat as manufacturing lead.
• 15 Sep: Rajiv Aggarwal is leaving the role of head of public affairs and ESG at Samsung India.
• 17 Sep: Practo promoted Shashank ND to executive chairman.
• 17 Sep: Practo appointed Jagnoor Singh as CEO.
• 17 Sep: Practo appointed Siddhartha Nihalani as COO-B2C.
• 17 Sep: Practo appointed Rowel Coelho as COO-B2B.
• 17 Sep: Practo appointed Abhinav Lal as chief scientist.
• 18 Sep: Savorworks appointed Archit Bagaria as co-founder.
• 26 Sep: Amorepacific India appointed Vidushi Goyal as business head, Premium Division.
• 29 Sep: Sunder Balasubramanian is leaving the role of Chief Marketing Officer at Myntra.

Every entry is from our people moves tracker, which records only events a published report states as new and checks every name and figure against that report.