The ‘lister’ comes home

IIPM, GURGAON

After replacing expat Douglas Baille, the local boy, Paranjpe, has a new job at hand as the CEO of HUL

Paddy fields, bullock carts, funny accents and people in colorful clothes. That’s what the world outside believes India is. When global giants send their corporate mavericks to streamline or align their global agendas in respect to India, they expect them to overlook the preset notions and look at India as a land of opportunities full of brainy IT guys and a huge market potential. What they still leave out from their so called blue print for succeeding in India is that 60% of India is still in the hinterlands. And no expat can ever trickle down his strategies to the grassroots without having a taste of the local flavour.

Hindustan Unilever limited (HUL) realised it pretty soon and crowned Nitin Paranjpe as the firm’s CEO in a rapid custodian change replacing Douglas Baillie. Last year, two MNC’s General Electric (Tejpreet Singh Chopra) and SAP AG (Ranjan Das) too had displaced their expatriate CEO’s and given over the reign to Indians.

According to industry sources, Baillie had come with the motive of ‘Unileverising’ India, with a dictate to synchronise HUL’s business processes with the global model of its parent firm. It was during his reign that the company changed its colours and name from HLL to HUL. And in tandem with the global trends he has pruned the workforce, by cutting down 50 jobs, a tough call for any Indian manager to take. Jagdeep Kapoor, a renowned brand analyst, gives high score to a job well done by Baillie but at the same time is delighted over the crowning of Nitin Paranjpe. Kapoor elaborates, “HUL has made an excellent choice by rewarding the merit and credit of an incredible employee who is sensitive to both, the culture of the country as well as the culture of the organisation.”


Paranjpe had started his corporate journey taking on the myriad lanes of the behemothic Hindustan Lever brand. The initial years saw him toiling as an area sales manager for HUL’s detergent brands. After a brief stint at the global headquarters in London, he was promoted as Category head– Fabric Wash & Regional Brand Director (Asia) followed by the elevation to the post of Vice President – Home Care (Laundry & HHC) India. In the year 2006, he was made the Executive Director of the HPC unit. The journey has sure been long but one filled with adventure and knowledge. And the experiences gained throughout the extensive journey at HUL has suitably prepared Paranjpe to feel the pulse of the vibrant Indian FMCG market. Harish Bijoor, Brand Analyst & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. adds, “The challenge for HUL is to understand the relevance of all brands (company owned as well as retailer owned) and understand the shift in consumer demands.” And Paranjpe is the perfect fit to handle the bullock carts, snake charmers and everything that is Indian.

Edit bureau: Priyanka Rajpal

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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