The Board of Directors of Marico, an Indian consumer product company in the global beauty and wellness space, has appointed Saugata Gupta, CEO, Marico Limited as Managing Director and CEO. Gupta will be inducted into the company’s Board of Directors effective April 1, 2014. Harsh Mariwala will continue as Chairman, Marico. The changes are subject to approval by the shareholders at the ensuing Annual General Meeting of the Company.
Saugata joined Marico Limited in January 2004 as Marketing Head. In the year 2007, he was promoted as the CEO of the company’s India business. In April 2013, Marico restructured its Consumer Product Business (CPB) in India and International Business Group (IBG) under Gupta’s leadership as the CEO of Marico Limited, the unified FMCG business. The restructuring was a proactive step to build on Marico’s sustained value creation, by proactively re-organising itself, taking into account the context of increasing convergence of businesses in Consumer Products Business (CPB) in India and the International FMCG businesses (IBG).
In his new role as Managing Director and CEO, Gupta will be responsible for innovation and building a future-ready organisation with a value-added portfolio. He will focus on sustaining Marico’s leadership presence in India as well as building the company into an emerging market MNC in the hair nourishment and grooming segments. Gupta will also lead the management team. As part of the new structure all business heads and group level functions will report to him.
Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico, said: “This announcement reflects the next phase of Marico’s growth journey. Under Gupta’s leadership, Marico has had a track record of sustainable profitable growth recording a five year CAGR of 19 percent in topline and bottomline. I am confident that we will achieve new heights under his leadership.”
Prior to joining Marico, Gupta was the Chief of Marketing and Group Sales at ICICI Prudential. He started his career with Cadbury’s where he spent nine years in various roles in Sales and Marketing in India and the United Kingdom. His last role was Marketing Manager – Chocolates. He has 20 years of experience primarily in the FMCG sector. Gupta holds an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and is an alumnus from IIM Bangalore.
