With nearly ten percent of BSE 500 companies witnessing a change in guard, the year 2023 is set to mark the highest number of appointments of chief executive officers (CEOs) in a given year.
While the retirement of existing CEOs triggered the hiring of new chiefs at most companies, exits for pursuing other opportunities and elevation to higher roles prompted others to find new captains.
According to Bloomberg data, as many as 47 companies from the BSE 500 index saw the appointment of new CEOs since the beginning of 2023. The list includes Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, JSW Steel, Hero Motocorp, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, and many others.
"New CEO completes the leadership team; all about execution now. The new CEO seems to have strong work experience, both in India and overseas," said Bank of America-Merril Llynch in a recent note to investors.
Interestingly, state-owned companies account for one-fourth of the list where new CEOs have been appointed between January and now. While 33 new CEOs were appointed in both 2022 and 2021, the year 2020 had seen 24 new CEOs joining in various companies.
Additionally, the five-year average through 2022 stood at 30 for the BSE 500 index. Among the sectors, financials dominated the list with 15 companies, whereas materials and consumer discretionary had eight and six companies, respectively.
| Year | No of firms where new CEOs have been appointed |
| 2016 | 18 |
| 2017 | 17 |
| 2018 | 29 |
| 2019 | 29 |
| 2020 | 24 |
| 2021 | 33 |
| 2022 | 33 |
| 2023 | 47 |
Source: Bloomberg
While Rohit Jawa replaced Sanjiv Mehta as Hindustan Unilever's managing director & CEO, K Krithivasan took over the TCS baton from Rajesh Gopinathan, who stepped down as CEO and MD of the country’s largest IT services firm TCS.
Similarly, in the month of June 2023, Anup Bagchi took over as the MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance for the next five years. Bagchi replaced NS Kannan, he was at the helm of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance between 2018-2023.
The size of companies, where new CEOs have been appointed this year is not small either. These 47 companies together contribute almost 15 percent to the combined revenue and net profit of BSE 500 companies on a trailing 12-month basis. The broader BSE500 index represents nearly 93 percent of the nation's market capitalisation.
