Gupta gets the nod as P&G’s health care chief bows out

MUMBAI:  Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd has announced a changing of the guard in its health care division, with Maithreyi Jagannathan stepping down as category leader effective December 31, 2025, to pursue other interests. Stepping into her shoes: Tushar Gupta, a P&G lifer with deep roots in the Vicks brand and a regional design pedigree.

Gupta, an IIM Calcutta alumnus and engineer from Manipal Institute of Technology, cut his teeth as a brand manager on Vicks India, where he built a reputation for sharp brand-building and consistent business results. After climbing the ranks domestically, he decamped to Singapore to lead design across Asia, the Middle East and Africa—a sprawling remit that saw him shape visual identity and packaging for some of the region’s most recognisable consumer brands.

Currently senior director for brand design and communication for Vicks and Zzzquil across Asia-Pacific, Gupta has spent his career mastering the dark arts of health care marketing: consumer insights, communication strategies, media investments and innovation launches. His CV reads like a greatest-hits compilation of P&G’s playbook—strengthening product superiority, elevating packaging, polishing digital assets and executing with military precision.

The handover takes effect on 1 January  2026, giving Gupta a clean slate to stamp his authority on India’s fiercely competitive health care market. It’s a category where brand loyalty runs deep, where cold and cough season can make or break a quarter, and where the ability to balance innovation with trusted heritage is worth its weight in mentholated gold.

For Jagannathan, it’s the end of a chapter. For Gupta, it’s the beginning of one—armed with a regional perspective, a design-led mindset and an intimate knowledge of the brand that remains P&G’s health care crown jewel in India.

The baton has been passed, the transition telegraphed. Now comes the hard part: keeping the Vicks vapour rising in a market that waits for no one.