Akanksha Gupta

Category Ownership: Strategic procurement for the critical Glass Bottle category,
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commanding an annual spend profile exceeding $180 Mn; drive strategies focused on cost
optimization, supply assurance, supplier performance, and value creation.
Cross-Category Governance: Head operational compliance and corporate governance
standardizations across all Dry Goods packaging divisions (Bottles, Caps, Labels, Cartons) to
guarantee complete process transparency and process excellence.
Global ESG Alignment: Lead ESG initiatives for the Glass category, advancing Scope 3
carbon reduction and sustainability objectives in alignment with global commitments.
Supplier Quality Excellence: Spearheaded Supplier Quality Excellence Programs across
glass bottle vendor sites, improving process capability, product quality, and supply reliability.

• Category Ownership: Heading strategic procurement of the USD 180M+ Glass Bottle
category, delivering annual savings of USD 10M+ strategic cost negotiations, supplier
performance enhancement, sourcing optimization and value creation.
• Cross-Category Governance: Heading governance standardization across all dry
goods packaging categories (Bottles, Closures, Labels, Cartons), achieving 100%
compliance supplier management, due diligence requirements and
sustainability compliance standards.
• Working Capital Optimization: Implemented VMI programs and renegotiated
supplier payment terms up to 90 days, unlocking USD 4M+ in cash and improving
working capital efficiency.
• Global ESG Commitments: Leading supplier decarbonization initiatives for the Glass
category, advancing 50% Scope 3 emission reduction ambition by 2030.
• Quality Excellence: Spearheading supplier quality excellence programs across glass
bottle vendor sites, delivering a 10% improvement in incoming RFT scores through
process capability enhancement and defect reduction initiatives.

• Large-Scale Sourcing Mastery: Led strategic sourcing and category roadmap
execution for a USD 160M+ Glass & PET Bottles portfolio, delivering USD 8M+ in
savings through supplier development, process improvements, and value
engineering opportunities.
• Circular Initiative: Pioneered innovative of
finished goods (FG) cartons, capturing 10% cost optimization on glass bottle
supplies. Awarded with Absolut Award for the same.
• Optimized Share Allocation: Leveraged quantitative SOB optimization models to
balance cost and supply risk, delivering USD 2M+ in savings through freight
optimization and multi-supplier sourcing.

Procurement Analytics & Supplier Performance: Led procurement analytics and reporting
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for global and regional stakeholders, providing insights on spend, savings pipelines, spend
cube trends, sustainability metrics, and supplier performance dashboards.
Value Engineering PMO: Managed the PMO for procurement-led value engineering
initiatives, driving milestone tracking, and cross-functional alignment with technical,
manufacturing, and quality teams.
Budgeting & Category Strategy: Supported to develop category strategy models and zero
based budgeting inputs to support annual planning and executive decision-making.

through spend, savings, sustainability, supplier performance analytics

Digital Transformation Strategy: Contributed to the implementation of Ivalua sourcing
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modules, supporting the transition from Ariba and enhancing procurement capabilities across
sourcing processes.
Automated Catalogues: Led implementation of e-auctions, catalogue buying, and integrated
shopping cart solutions, enhancing efficiency through process automation.
Executive Governance: Served as Secretary General to the Vedanta Group Commercial
Committee, coordinating strategic reviews, governance processes, and executive
engagements with the Group Leadership.
Risk Management: Developed Due Diligence framework for Cairn. Partnered with Duns &
Bradstreet and Save Risk to develop risk portfolio of all vendors.

• Strategic Sourcing & Projects: Managed USD 200M+ O&M and capital project Electrical, Instrumentation, and Mechanical
USD 50M in value creation through commercial negotiations, supplier leverage,
competitive bidding and long-term O&M contracting.

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Power Plant Procurement & Commissioning: Managed procurement activities supporting
• commissioning and operations of a 1, 980 MW supercritical power plant, covering critical E&I,
Mechanical, Railways, and indirect categories across OPEX and CAPEX requirements.
Import Sourcing & Localization: Led import procurement and indigenization initiatives,
including customs clearance, vendor development, and localization of imported spares to
improve supply reliability and cost competitiveness.

• Power Plant Procurement & Commissioning: Managed procurement of USD 50M +
spend, supporting commissioning and operations of a 1, 980 MW supercritical power
plant, covering critical E&I, Mechanical, Railways, and Indirect categories across
OPEX and CAPEX requirements, ensuring timely project execution and operational
readiness.
• Import Sourcing & Localization: Led import procurement and indigenization
initiatives, including customs clearance, vendor development, and localization of
imported spares to improve supply reliability and cost competitiveness.