Heineken-owned United Breweries has appointed Parul Malhotra as Chief Human Resources Officer, designated as Director-People, effective July 1, 2026.
The board approved the appointment on the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and the company communicated the decision to the stock exchanges as a senior management change earlier this week. Malhotra will join the executive leadership team and lead the people function for one of India’s largest beer companies.
Her mandate covers talent strategy, leadership development and culture as the company looks to build on a strong fourth quarter that saw beer category volumes return to double-digit growth and premium portfolio volumes rise 16 per cent year-on-year.
Malhotra arrives from adidas, where she spent close to 18 years across HR roles in India and the wider Asia-Pacific region. She joined the German sportswear major in 2008 as HR Manager for India and rose steadily through the ranks. Between 2015 and 2018, she served as Director-HRM and Rewards, and then as HR Head for India from 2018 to 2020. She subsequently moved to Bangkok as HR Head for Thailand and, from 2022 onwards, held the position of Senior Director-HR, Southeast Asia, based in Singapore.
Earlier in her career, Malhotra served as Head of Strategic Initiatives at Keane from 2006 to 2008 and as an HR Business Partner at Patni Computer Systems from 2004 to 2006. Her first professional stint was as a summer intern at Dr Reddy’s Laboratories in 2003.
Malhotra holds an MBA in Human Resources and Marketing from the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD), Pune, and a BA (Hons) in Sociology from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi.
