ABHIBRATA BANERJI

+91 – 80840-31383 / abhibrata20@gmail.com / Bangalore, India

Profile Summary
With 5 years of experience working in diverse roles across domains such as Brand Marketing, Operations and
Strategy, currently managing brands in a challenging category with the Foods Division of one of India’s leading
FMCG houses, ITC Ltd. Awarded ‘Outstanding Achiever’ in last role in ITC and backed by strong educational
background (MBA from XLRI (Top 10%) and B.E. from BITS Pilani in Electronics, both top varsities of India,
District Topper in CBSE), offers the ability to comprehend diverse projects and to decisively drive required course
of action, coupled with the versatility to lead and work in various team capacities, from independent projects to team
assignments.
Domains of experience includes –
Brand Management | Marketing Strategy | Digital Marketing | Trade Marketing
Operations | Supply Chain Planning | Project Management | Sourcing & Procurement

Work Experience (Full-time)

ITC Ltd. Jul 2014 - present
Assistant Brand Manager – Aashirvaad Staples (Spices) Bangalore, India, Jul 2017 – present
Managing the highly dynamic spices category, handling the ITC brands – Aashirvaad and ITC Master Chef
 Understood brand elements, in context to the scattered and largely commoditized spice industry in India
 Conducted consumer immersions and market visits to understand consumer nuances and trade dynamics
 Planned and executed multiple consumer promos across variants, geographies; monitored and drove sales
 Liaised continually with multiple external and internal stakeholders – creative agencies, sales teams, category
development team, supply chain, procurement, media, finance, regulatory and legal teams
 Developed clutter-breaking visibility & merchandising solutions tailored to various trade channels

Assistant Marketing Manager – Consumer Engagement and Digital Kolkata, Jun 2015 – Jun 2017
Encompassed strategic marketing as well as Digital Marketing for ITC Cigarette Brands
a) Strategic Marketing for entire portfolio of brands
 Planned & implemented customized projects independently to accentuate brand salience among relevant TG
 Liaised with multiple internal stakeholders - brand teams, sales teams, finance, legal to target interventions
 Managed multiple agencies on retainers and drove a 600+ member-strong Pan-India team
 Introduced multiple new dimensions to the role through independent projects, some of which are -
o Seamless Digitization of consumer feedback, digitized consumer validation
o Consumer Analytics Module for sharp-targeting of brands through consumer insights
o Structured & periodic Training Program (Classroom and On-The Job) for field force of survey executives

b) Digital Marketing Initiatives for the SBU

 Leveraged multiple digital levers to augment brand and category salience, liaising with leading digital
agencies – Social Media Levers, Listening, Search Engine Opt., Influencer Models, User Generated Content
 Devised online tool to consolidate unstructured social media feed into useful and actionable sentiment buckets

Highlights
 Awarded with Outstanding Achievement Award 2016-17 for my contribution to ITC tobacco division
 Completed 50+ projects reaching to 30 Lac+ consumers in 2016-17 across consumer segments & geographies
 Planned re-alignment of consumer engagement strategy, tailoring to large change in external factors
 Led multiple Innovation Projects, leveraging technology to fortify projects – Virtual Reality, LEAP, etc
 Core member of CEO’s Team to assess and improve Digital Readiness of ITD

Assistant-Under-Training (AUT) - Sales Central UP, Jul 2014 – Jul 2015

With independent sales stints across Foods, Personal care, Cigarettes, a rich sales-training stint in Central UP
 Drove healthy improvement in sales and productivity parameters in Lakhimpur Circle – Sales, UOB,etc
Email: abhibrata20@gmail.com | Phone: +91 8084031383
  Planned and executed multiple focus activities – Launch Plans, Highway Drives, Fill Rate Drives
 Involved in processes leading to the appointment of a new distributor in Kanpur
 Implemented Branch level initiatives, pushing the Branch within first 3 branches in India

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (Operations, pre-MBA) Jul 2010 - May 2012
Engineer, Control & Instrumentation, Power Sector Durgapur
Rich core power sector experience in commissioning the 2x500 MW DSTPS Thermal Power Project
 Managed erection and commissioning of steam turbine and auxiliaries of both project units
 Co-ordinated and liaised successfully with the client (DVC) and multiple contractors (Powertronix, etc)
Highlights
 Achieved new benchmark, fully loading Unit-1 within 15 days from turbine synchronization
 Delivered full loading of both units within 1 year, from Unit-1 boiler light-up to Unit -2 full load
 Awarded a 4.89 on 5 excellent rating in Year End Review of BHEL’s employee appraisal system

Internship Experience (MBA Internships)

Mahindra Group (Strategy Consulting, MBA summers) Apr-Jun 2013
a) Entry Strategy for Rural Electrification for Mahindra Powerol – Primary Project
 Liaised with various stakeholders - Mahindra Companies, RGGVY Consultants, State Electricity Boards,
 Understood the rural electrification scenario and subsequently plotted the possible entry solutions
b) Enhancing Farmer Income through Market Integration – Thought Paper.
 Recommended the role of Mahindra companies in supporting small farmers by market integration, FPO’s
Highlights
 Presented a set of feasible options including decentralized distributed generation (DDG), to Business Head,
Powerol and team who showed keen interest in the outcome and in taking it forward
 Awarded Pre-Placement Interview (PPI) Offer from Mahindra, owing to the contribution in this stint

Timken India Ltd. (Supply Chain Management, post-MBA break) Apr-Jun 2014
 Developed a highly customizable Sourcing Costing Template for forgings, cages and rollers to help the
Sourcing Team with negotiations while subsequent procurement.
 Cost Template developed was decided to be scaled across all commodities by Head, Supply Chain
 Carried out Spend Analysis of all the suppliers of certain bought-out items

Education
XLRI Jamshedpur - PGDBM in Operations and Marketing Jamshedpur, 2012-14
 Overall CQPI – 6.14 / 8 (6.58/8 in Operations; 6.71/8 in Marketing; Top 10-12% of batch)
 Campus Winner & National Finalist, Cairn ACE, a B-school strategy competition, on topic of energy security
 Campus Finalist, Mahindra War Room, in top 5 out of 100+ teams, on topic of agri-business strategy
 Campus Winner, Whipped 2012, a supply chain management event of XLRI, on Bullwhip effect in SCM
 Successfully carried out Live Marketing Projects with -
o Johnson & Johnson (Impact of Sales Force Automation) - Evaluated impact of automation on call-time, in-store
merchandising focus, and other parameters using tools like time-motion study ; suggested improvements
o Ogilvy & Mather (Proneness of Indians towards social causes) - Applied projective techniques, content
analysis to identify behavioural clusters
 Led teams in various Positions Of Responsibility in diverse committees –
o Secretary – SPICMACAY, XLRI Chapter
o Lead, Creatives - Ensemble Core Team (XLRI’s Management Fest)
o Senior Core Member, Valhalla (XLRI’s Cultural Fest)

BITS Pilani – B.E. (Hons), Electronics & Instrumentation Pilani, 2006-10

 CGPA – 8.5 / 10 (1 Division)
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 Appointed Professional Assistant, Engineering Graphics Course, owing to outstanding performance

 Presented in National Conference of Virtual and Intelligent Instrumentation (NCVII) on PLC Automation

Email: abhibrata20@gmail.com | Phone: +91 8084031383

 Completed practice school Internships in Tata Power (Instrumentation), Cosmic Circuits (Analog Electronics)
 As core member, Instrumentation Forum, developed and mentored projects for APOGEE, annual tech fest

CBSE XII Boards - St. Mary’s English High School Jamshedpur, 2006
 District Topper with 93% in Pure Science in CBSE XII Boards. Ranked 7th in Jharkhand.
 Awarded with Certificate and Medal of Excellence from District Collector, East Singbhum

Dissertation Thesis – Collaboration in Supply Chains

Additional thesis on SCM Collaboration submitted under Prof. Rajiv Misra, XLRI Jamshedpur
 Studied collaboration levels –Vendor Managed Inventory to Collaborative Planning, Collaborative Planning
Forecasting Replenishment, Supply Chain Resilience, Supply Circle Management
 Analysed collaboration levels and sourcing & procurement planning in Fashion apparel industry, Retail, etc
 Additionally, co-authored a note on Warehousing in India, reviewed for publication in CSCMP journal
 Awarded A+, highest grade, based on quality of thesis

Extra-Curricular Interests & Additional Information

 Music – Member, Bodhi Tree, XLRI Band; Member, Music Club BITS Pilani; Trained in Hindustani Classical
Vocals securing 1st division, 2nd Runners-Up in Solo Vocals in Jamshedpur Talent Contest
 Photography – Member, Photography Club BITS; Runners-Up CAP Online Contest; Runners-Up Poster
Designing Contest, adept at designing and editing tools (Adobe PS, AE, etc)
 Traveling and exploring new places
 Fluent in English, Hindi & Bengali
 Proficient in MS Excel, MS Project, MS Power Point

Email: abhibrata20@gmail.com | Phone: +91 8084031383