Mr. Ajay B Baliga

Biography

Ajay is a seasoned supply chain and manufacturing professional with over 35 years’ experience in the alcobev industry. He is a BTech in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras and started his career as an Engineering Trainee in Shaw Wallace & Co in 1981 where he had the unique distinction of being appointed as the youngest Vice President in Shaw Wallace hierarchy. His career journey has touched upon all facets of alcobev industry. He has held positions as Factory Engineer, Factory Manager, General Manager overseeing a region, Assistant Vice President / Vice President overseeing two regions. Whilst in Shaw Wallace, he also has a distinction of managing one of the breweries and was Director in several subsidiary company boards and also member of the Due Diligence and acquisitions team. He joined ABD (then BDA) as Senior Vice President – Business Development and Manufacturing in 1997, held several important positions and led several initiatives. He was one of the key members of the team that developed strategic architecture for ABD in 2008. His footprint is extremely visible in framing of the company’s vision and values. In November 2008, he left ABD to join United Spirits Ltd. (USL) as Executive Vice President – Manufacturing, Projects and Quality Control. During his tenure in USL, he streamlined and expanded the manufacturing footprint through a combination of capacity enhancement, acquisitions & third-party operations to create capability to produce more than 150 million cases per annum – cost effectiveness, improved service levels, efficiency & quality were the corner stones of this strategy. Post-acquisition of USL by Diageo in 2013, he was responsible for transformation of USL’s manufacturing operations & technical functions to align with Diageo Global Supply standards and improve performance parameters to make USL Manufacturing World Class. Under his watch, USL’s Technical Centre grew into a formidable bank of capabilities, knowledge, innovations and technical improvements in the alcobev space. He was appointed as Global Supply Director – Mainstream Spirits for Diageo Plc during the last one year and he put together an end to end Supply strategy & solutions for Diageo’s global portfolio of mainstream spirits and initiated execution in a few markets. Ajay is married to Alka and has one son, Akshay. Alka is a Microbiologist & Pathologist by education but a homemaker by preference. Akshay after completing his graduation from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is presently consulting with Ernst & Young in Bangalore.

Research Interest

Ajay is a seasoned supply chain and manufacturing professional with over 35 years’ experience in the alcobev industry. He is a BTech in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras and started his career as an Engineering Trainee in Shaw Wallace & Co in 1981 where he had the unique distinction of being appointed as the youngest Vice President in Shaw Wallace hierarchy. His career journey has touched upon all facets of alcobev industry. He has held positions as Factory Engineer, Factory Manager, General Manager overseeing a region, Assistant Vice President / Vice President overseeing two regions. Whilst in Shaw Wallace, he also has a distinction of managing one of the breweries and was Director in several subsidiary company boards and also member of the Due Diligence and acquisitions team. He joined ABD (then BDA) as Senior Vice President – Business Development and Manufacturing in 1997, held several important positions and led several initiatives. He was one of the key members of the team that developed strategic architecture for ABD in 2008. His footprint is extremely visible in framing of the company’s vision and values. In November 2008, he left ABD to join United Spirits Ltd. (USL) as Executive Vice President – Manufacturing, Projects and Quality Control. During his tenure in USL, he streamlined and expanded the manufacturing footprint through a combination of capacity enhancement, acquisitions & third-party operations to create capability to produce more than 150 million cases per annum – cost effectiveness, improved service levels, efficiency & quality were the corner stones of this strategy. Post-acquisition of USL by Diageo in 2013, he was responsible for transformation of USL’s manufacturing operations & technical functions to align with Diageo Global Supply standards and improve performance parameters to make USL Manufacturing World Class. Under his watch, USL’s Technical Centre grew into a formidable bank of capabilities, knowledge, innovations and technical improvements in the alcobev space. He was appointed as Global Supply Director – Mainstream Spirits for Diageo Plc during the last one year and he put together an end to end Supply strategy & solutions for Diageo’s global portfolio of mainstream spirits and initiated execution in a few markets. Ajay is married to Alka and has one son, Akshay. Alka is a Microbiologist & Pathologist by education but a homemaker by preference. Akshay after completing his graduation from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is presently consulting with Ernst & Young in Bangalore.