L'Oreal India goes local; appoints Amit Jain as first Indian MD to head biz

An FMCG veteran, Amit Jain will become the first Indian managing director of L'Oreal India on 1 August

L’Oreal India, the maker of women’s beauty care products under Garnier and Maybelline, has roped in an Indian to head its operations – first time since it set up base here in 1991. Amit Jain, the current managing director of paint maker AkzoNobel’s north and west Europe region, will take charge as the managing director of L’Oreal India on 1 August, the firm said on Wednesday.

Jain (55), who is presently located in Amsterdam, will replace Jean-Christophe Letellier. Letellier will move to a larger role in the L’Oreal Groupe in Europe, after heading the India operations for five years.

A Delhi boy, Jain began his career as a management trainee in the then ICI Limited – a Kolkata headquartered subsidiary of UK’s ICI Group. After completing his masters in business administration (MBA) from Faculty of Management Studies, Jain considers the stretch crucial for his future career as it helped him understand the nuances of the complex channel sales and distribution model prevalent in India. An 11 years stint at beverages major Coca-Cola saw Jain quickly moving up the ladder to finish as a vice-president for its north and east India region.

After spending close to three years in Viacom, Jain moved back to his first company – now AkzoNobel India – as the MD in June 2009. Five years into the role, Jain was moved to Netherland to expand AkzoNobel’s decorative coating business in countries like France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Manish Bhatia, President, Building Products Division & CEO EVOK Retail, HSIL Ltd, who directly reported to Jain in AkzoNobel, says, Amit Jain has “uncanny ability to understand the strength of an individual to make him deliver exceeding his potential”. Bhatia wrote on the professional social media platform LinkedIn that Jain’s capacity to guide a team with clarity and help them execute tasks “with excellence” was among his key contributions.

Pierre-Yves Arzel, Vice President - South Asia Pacific Zone, L’Oréal said, “Amit’s rich global experience with a deep understanding of India, transformational leadership skills and inclusive personality will be an important asset in further developing L’Oréal’s business in India. His mission is to build on our rich talent base and global brands, to make L’Oréal India an engine for growth in Asia.” Jain, who will also look after L’Oreal’s businesses in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, will report to Arzel.

L’Oreal, currently the third largest player in the Rs 811 billion Indian personal care space, is expected to gain from Jain’s expertise on distribution and brand promotion that includes his active role in Coke launching 200 ml glass bottles in the early 2000s. The firm has a lot of ground to cover in a market that continues to be dominated by Hindustan Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. L’Oreal’s shares have moved up in recent years. However, it remains much below from that of HUL (25.2 per cent) and Colgate-Palmolive (seven per cent). As per Euromonitor International, L’Oreal held 3.8 per cent share by value in 2016.