Sanjiv Mehta, outsider who built HUL India across many Indias

Outgoing MD and CEO of Unilever Sanjiv Mehta is a classic example of a one-company man. He has been with Unilever for over 30 years. He has headed the business in Bangladesh, Phillipines, North Africa and Middle East. In 2013, he returned to India to head Hindustan Unilever, as an "outsider", and turned it in to an advantage.

“I was in Unilever for 21 years. But I had not worked with Unilever in India. When you come in as an outsider, you have an advantage. You can look at things with absolutely fresh pair of lens. There is nothing like a holy cow. You can challenge everything,” said Mehta.

And challenge he did. Under Mehta, HUL’s annual revenue nearly doubled from Rs 27,000 crore to more than Rs 52,000 crore. That's a compounded annual growth rate of over 8 percent.

The company's market capitalisation has zoomed nearly 5-fold, from just over Rs 1 lakh crore to nearly Rs 5 lakh crore.

Mehta's leadership began with a simple mantra — culture, capability and communication became the "axis for growth"

From Surf Excel to Rin to Pepsodent to Close-Up to Dove —  HUL has more than 50 brands across its three divisions — home care, beauty & personal care along with foods & refreshment.

Sixteen of these brands have a turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore. Under Sanjiv Mehta's leadership, HUL has managed to drive premiumisation across all three categories, creating a total turnover of Rs 10,000 crore through just its high-value products. But that doesn't mean the non-premium categories have been ignored.

“When you look at growth it is straddling the price-benefit pyramid. We have ensured that we occupy all the benefits space and all the price points in all the big categories. So, when times are tough, and when there is down-trading, we have brands to capture the consumers. And when the times are good and there is up-trading, we have brands to cater to the needs of the consumers. So portfolio play becomes extremely important,” he said.

Soon after Mehta took charge, HUL rolled out a new strategy for growth called “winning in many Indias”.

The new structure transformed the company from a 4-branch structure at the front end to 14 distinct consumer clusters that will roll up into five sales branches based out of seven locations. But this was easier said than done.

“When I walked into India, and while I knew it, it became so apparent that the 29 states of India had less in common than the 20 states, 20 countries of North Africa, Middle East.  Winning many Indias was a massive project. And this entailed virtually changing the wiring of the company while the engine was running. Not very easy to do. And so we needed to prove it,” Mehta said.

Mehta was not content with organic growth alone.

In 2020, the company acquired Glaxosmithkline's consumer healthcare business. With this, more iconic brands like Horlicks, Boost and Maltova joined the HUL empire making it the largest food and refreshment business in India. But more importantly, it opened new doors for HUL.

“At some stage you will see us unfolding which is the big thrust for Unilever globally in this pace of a vitamins, minerals and supplements, which then also leads me into a food and refreshment business,” he said.

Mehta has also been preparing HUL for a significant digital transformation.

“The area which occupies the maximum amount of my personal time, is reimagining HUL. Yeah, that is where I spend a huge amount of time,” he said.

As Sanjiv Mehta gets set to retire, he leaves his successor a company with more than 50 successful brands and several businesses, a business where culture is the key connecting tissue — and one that breeds high performance.

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