Devyani International Names New CMO for Pizza Hut India in Dual Leadership Shake-up

Devyani International moved quickly to fill its Pizza Hut India leadership gap, naming Sandeep Anand as Chief Marketing Officer and Business Head effective April 6, 2026. Anand steps into a role vacated by Vijay Gogate, who had served as CEO of Pizza Hut India, and takes on a dual mandate that combines brand strategy with full operational authority over the chain.

Anand arrives with roughly 22 years of experience across food and FMCG, a resume that runs through some of the most competitive terrain in Indian quick-service dining. Before this appointment, he served as Senior Director of E-commerce Sales and Marketing at Americana Group, the operator running KFC, Pizza Hut, and Hardee's across the Middle East. Earlier stints included Domino's, Zomato, GSK Consumer Health, and Reckitt, giving him direct exposure to both the brand side and the delivery-platform economics that now define how most Pizza Hut orders in India reach customers.

That background matters at a company operating 572 Pizza Hut locations across India as of fiscal year 2024, a footprint that has grown steadily from 510 stores the year prior. Devyani International reported approximately seven billion Indian rupees in Pizza Hut revenue in FY2024, a business large enough that the CMO's decisions on delivery partnerships, digital ordering, and promotional campaigns have direct consequences for kitchen crews and delivery staff at hundreds of locations.

The appointments were approved by Devyani International's board following a recommendation from the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, a standard governance step for senior hires at a publicly listed company. The timing, with both new executives starting on the same date, points to deliberate restructuring rather than isolated turnover.

The second appointment made that clearer. Robinder Singh joined Devyani International on April 6 as Business Head for Costa Coffee and Airports, a portfolio that covers cafe operations and the company's airport concession business. Singh brings an operational profile distinct from Anand's marketing background: his most recent position was Chief Operating Officer at Paradise Biryani, and his prior career included leadership roles at Chaayos, Vodafone, and Reliance Communications. He holds an MBA in Marketing with an undergraduate background in Electrical Engineering.

For the people working in Pizza Hut kitchens and on delivery runs across India, the practical question is what Anand's e-commerce fluency means for how Devyani positions the brand against Domino's and the aggregator platforms that increasingly set the terms of delivery competition. His time at Zomato and his most recent work managing digital sales channels for a multi-brand QSR operator in the Middle East suggest the company is betting that its next growth push runs through digital ordering, not just store count. With Gogate's CEO title now replaced by a combined CMO and Business Head structure, Anand holds more direct accountability for whether that bet pays off at the store level.