ITC veteran Sachin Sahay frontrunner in CEO race at Birla Opus

Sahay will replace Rakshit Hargave, who leaves his post as general manager in November 2025.

Birla Opus replied Mint‘s questions about the possibility of Sahay being appointed as the new chief executive on January 8. Sahay did not respond MintCalls, messages, and emails from the new location. ITC did not respond either MintTheir interrogation on January 13th.

Sahay, who started his career as a brand manager in 2002, worked at ITC for more than 23 years and has been in this position for the last nine years. In this position, Sahay managed the company’s pan-India sales for its cigarette and FMCG businesses, overseeing sales strategy and execution, distributor and field force management, data analytics and channel strategy.

Sahay, an alumnus of SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, will step in at a critical juncture for the paint industry, where incumbents are struggling to defend their market share amid mixed demand.

market disruption

After decades of relative stability, the paint industry has witnessed significant disruption in the past year. Starting with Aditya Birla Group’s launch of Birla Opus in 2024, deep-pocketed conglomerates have entered the market. This was followed by JSW Paints’ acquisition of Dutch major Akzo Nobel’s India business. JSW now appears to be consolidating its operations after appointing Parth Jindal as chairman of the acquired firm last week.

“While we expect the Birla group to announce his successor soon, we believe the departure of the chief architect will have a potential impact on near-medium term growth prospects,” analysts at ICICI Securities said in a note dated November 5, 2025. The report stated that the new participant had a 10% market share and made investments. ₹97.27 billion from initial budget ₹100 billion.

Manoj Menon, head of research, ICICI Securities, said: Mint Asian Paints, India’s largest paint manufacturer, has already taken an aggressive stance and is likely to remain so, especially when it comes to brand spend. He also expects Birla Opus to double at least one more time before assessing how the market stabilizes, especially after the leadership transition.

Hargave was Birla Opus’ first managing director and joined Grasim in 2021. Under his leadership, Birla Opus achieved its first phase of expansion with six manufacturing facilities located in Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Following Hargave’s departure, Himanshu Kapania, managing director of Birla Opus’ parent company Grasim Industries, was overseeing the paint business as interim CEO.

Hargave is now the new chief executive of biscuit maker Britannia. This reflects the increasing interchangeability of senior leadership in consumer-facing businesses.