MAM
Sudhir Sitapati moves on from HUL, to be replaced by Srinandan Sundaram
NEW DELHI: Hindustan Unilever (HUL) executive director foods and refreshment Sudhir Sitapati is moving on from the FMCG major. He will be replaced by Srinandan Sundaram, currently executive director – customer development. The appointment will be effective 1 July 2021.
Sitapati is leaving the organisation to pursue an external opportunity.
He joined HUL as a management trainee in 1999 and has successfully managed roles across sales and marketing. As executive director – foods and refreshment, he led the transformation of the brand’s Tea portfolio into a purpose-led category that regained market leadership and gained shares for the last three years.
During his tenure, he also led the merger of Adityaa Milk and more recently, GSK Consumer Healthcare business into HUL, bringing iconic brands like Horlicks and Boost into the Unilever family. The Unilever Food Solutions business was also rewired and transformed into a growth engine.
Sundaram joined HUL as a management trainee in 1999 and over the last 22 years, has had a strong track record in both customer development and marketing. In his current role, Srinandan has been at the forefront of bringing in leading-edge technology and transforming the company’s CD organisation into a high tech – high touch team. The Shikhar app, launched under his leadership, has lent a competitive edge to the business, especially during the pandemic and is the largest eb2b app in India today.
HUL chairman & MD Sanjiv Mehta said, “I would like to thank Sudhir for his immense contributions to the company over the last two decades. We cherish iconic ad campaigns like Daag Acche Hain and Swad Apnepan Ka that were created under his leadership. He played a pivotal role in the merger of GSK CH into HUL. I wish him the very best as he embarks on a new chapter in his career. I am delighted with the appointment of Srinandan as head of foods and refreshment and I’m certain that he will take the business to the next level of performance.”
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
