Nitin Paranjpe is a well-known name in the Indian corporate world. With his humble prophecy, Paranjpe has undoubtedly managed to do wonders at Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL).

The man is known for steering pass the country’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company through the tough times of the global economic crisis.

A Mumbaikar by origin, Paranjpe, 56, will take over as the chief operating officer of Dutch-British multinational corporation from May 1. More recently, Paranjpe, was president, foods & refreshments, Unilever.

Paranjpe comes with abundant experience in the FMCG sector. He was earlier the Indian chief executive at the maker of Lux soap and Surf Excel detergent, a position he held since 2008.

"Nitin will be responsible for all of Unilever’s go-to-market organisations, driving and co-ordinating in-year performance across our countries in line with our Divisional strategies," the company added in the statement.

Paranjpe, who joined HUL in 1987 as a management trainee, has risen rapidly through the ranks. During his initial years, he worked as an area sales manager for detergents. He served two years in the global headquarters in London, and in March 2006, he was elevated to the post of executive director of the HPC business.

He had the opportunity to move to Unilever, London in the year 2000 and was part of the review of the Organization Structure. The next year, he was assistant to the Unilever Chairman and Executive Committee in London.

The 56-year-old holds a mechanical engineering degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and an MBA from the same institute.

In 2013, when Paranjpe held the position of President of the Home Care segment, he was honoured with the CNBC-TV18's Business Leader of the Year award. He was also awarded Forbes India's Best CEO Award in 2012.

The British-Dutch company, Unilever, has a market cap of $57 billion and is present in 190 countries. The company derives nine percent of its revenue from India and more than half of the company's revenue comes from emerging markets.

First Published:Mar 15, 2019 1:51 PM IST