Neeraj Kumar
Neeraj Kumar is the Managing Director for Suntory Global Spirits India, leading the business since 2018 in India. Neeraj is an inclusive Business Leader with experience spanning over 31 years in building brands, people development, commercial excellence, business transformation, sustainability and DE&I.
Neeraj is a member of Suntory Global Spirits global Executive Management Team and is steering a sustainable growth agenda, overseeing portfolio expansion, premiumization of brands, culture building and sustained market performance. He has been recognized as Business Leader of The Year in 2021 and 2023 by the Industry.
At Suntory, Neeraj has played a pivotal role in establishing a strong presence of the business in the market, with strong governance, a culture of high performance, Growing For Good and Sustainability at the heart of the company ethos.
Under his leadership, Suntory in India has been recognized as a Great Place To Work, 4 times in a row apart from recognition amongst the top 25 workplaces in manufacturing and for Women. The business has forayed strongly into the Indian whisky segment with the launch of India’s First Truly International Blended Whisky, Oaksmith, personifying Japanese craftsmanship. The core portfolio has a leading position in the whisky category with Teacher’s Scotch Whisky and Jim Beam Bourbon and premium expressions from the Laphroaig, Bowmore and The Ardmore Scotch Single Malts. The company has made a pioneering effort to establish the House Of Suntory in India with the successful business of Japanese luxury spirit brands such as The Yamazaki, Hibiki, Suntory whisky Toki, Roku Japanese craft Gin and Haku Japanese Vodka.
In his previous role as the Marketing Director in APAC at Beam Suntory based in Sydney and Singapore, Neeraj was responsible for regional brand strategies to grow the premium portfolio across APAC markets in Australia, Singapore, China, South-East Asia, Taiwan and Korea.
Prior to Beam Suntory India, Neeraj served in roles of increasing responsibility at PepsiCo Nepal and Electrolux India, where he rose to the position of Vice President Marketing & Strategy at Electrolux Major Appliances. Neeraj has attended Suntory leadership development program at the Harvard Business School, US and has studied luxury brand management at IIM Bangalore, India.
Neeraj is based in Gurugram, India. His wife, Nehal N Kumar is an alumni of JJ School of Art, Mumbai. His elder son, Neel Kumar, works with the UOB Bank in Singapore and younger son Nilay Kumar, is an undergrad student at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada