Rohit Jawa To Replace Sanjiv Mehta As HUL Managing Director And CEO

Jawa will join the company as CEO-designate and whole-time director from 1 April. He will also take over as president, Unilever South Asia, the company said in a filing to the exchanges on Friday.

Jawa, 56, will join the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE) effective 1 April 2023. After a transformational tenure of 10 years at the helm of HUL, Sanjiv Mehta will retire from the company, the company further added.

Jawa, an MBA in marketing from the Faculty of Management Studies, and an alumnus of St Stephen’s College, Delhi, is currently the chief of transformation for Unilever based out of London, where since January 2022, he has orchestrated the end-to-end transformation of Unilever.

He joined HUL directly from campus as a management trainee in 1988, in Mumbai, moving on to work across regions such as India, South East Asia, and North Asia. Jawa's success replicates that of several HUL executives who moved on to far-flung regions helming businesses for Unilever globally.

As EVP for North Asia & Chairman for Unilever China, Jawa led a significant transformation of Unilever China into a competitive, profitable, and consistent business, now Unilever’s third biggest globally, the company said. As the chairman of Unilever Philippines, he led the business to become one of the top 10 markets for Unilever globally.

“Jawa’s ability to integrate the strength of traditional markets with digital technologies and future-fit business models positions him well to take HUL into its next growth phase," the company said.

In fiscal 2022, the company that sells household products such as Lux soap and Knorr soups reported a turnover of ₹50,336 crore. India is the largest market for Unilever globally in terms of volumes and second in terms of value.

Mehta, 62, had taken charge of HUL as its MD & CEO in October 2013 and led the business through a period of sustained growth.

“During his decade at the helm, the business crossed the ₹50,000-crore turnover mark and the market capitalization of the company increased more than four times from $17 billion to $75 billion, reinforcing HUL as one of India’s most valuable businesses," the company said.

Mehta also led acquisitions of brands such as GSK Consumer Healthcare’s Horlicks, apart from regional hair-care brand Indulekha bolstering the company’s presence in the nutrition as well as personal care market.

“He has led the business into future growth segments with several strategic mergers and acquisitions such as the amalgamation of GSK Consumer Healthcare into HUL, one of the biggest mergers in the history of FMCG in the country," the company said.

Mehta also led several transformative business programmes such as ‘Dial Up the Big Q’ and ‘Winning in Many Indias’ to make the business more consumer-centric, agile, and resilient. To make the business more future-fit, Mehta also championed the ‘Reimagine HUL’ agenda by leveraging data and designing business models to redefine how HUL engages with consumers.

On Friday, the company also announced the appointment of Ranjay Gulati as an independent director of the company for a term of five years effective 1st April 2023 up to 31st March 2028. Gulati is presently a professor at Harvard Business School. He is an expert on organizational growth and until recently, chaired the Advanced Management Program, the School’s flagship Senior Leader Executive Program. Gulati holds a Master's Degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a PhD in Organizational Behaviour from Harvard University. He graduated in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.