Hindustan Unilever CFO Ramamurthy promoted as senior V-P at parent firm

PB Balaji will succeed Ramamurthy as Executive Director Finance & IT and CFO

Unilever, the world’s second-largest consumer goods company, has again tapped into subsidiary Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)’s management pool to fill key positions at its London headquarters.

Eight months after Nitin Paranjpe, then HUL’s managing director and chief executive, was elevated as president (homecare) at Unilever, HUL chief financial officer Sridhar Ramamurthy has been promoted as senior vice-president (finance) at the parent firm, effective July 1.

According to an HUL statement, Ramamurthy will be part of the global markets executive team, a select group of senior Unilever managers that reports directly to Unilever Chief Operating Officer Harish Manwani. Sanjiv Mehta, HUL’s managing director and chief executive, is part of this team.

Ramamurthy will be replaced by P B Balaji, currently vice-president (finance), Unilever Americas Supply Chain Company; he was based in Switzerland. Before that, he spent two and a half years in London as group chief accountant of Unilever worldwide. Earlier, he was vice-president (finance) for the company’s home and personal care business in India and vice-president (treasury) for the AAR region. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai and a post-graduate diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata. Balaji joined HUL as management trainee in May 1993.

His appointment was approved by the HUL board on Tuesday. As of now, about 200 HUL managers (13 per cent of HUL’s managerial strength) are part of Unilever globally.

Paranjpe is part of the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), the Anglo-Dutch major’s 12-member executive team. He was the third HUL executive in a decade to be elevated to the ULE. In 2005, Manwani and Manvinder Singh Banga became its members, following their elevation to the posts of president (Asia-Africa) and president (foods), respectively.

Later, Banga became president (global foods, home and personal care), before resigning in 2010. Manwani, also chairman of HUL, became chief operating officer in 2011.