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Banga steps down as HLL chief
Mumbai: Manvinder Singh 'Vindi' Banga has stepped down as Chairman of Hindustan Lever on Friday, after presiding over a large restructuring process that saw the company slash the number of brands and shed businesses in order to maintain its growth momentum.

Banga, as President, Foods, Unilever, shared the dais at the company's 72nd shareholders meet with Harish Manwani, the newly-appointed HLL chairman.

Banga handed over the reins to Manwani after five years at the helm, Banga highlighted the company's future prospects, pointing out the signs of revival in the core FMCG business and benefits accruing from the restructuring.

Banga credited HLL for taking the initiative of cutting prices and leading the industry back to growth. He focused on how the FMCG market slowed in 2000 after growing at almost 15% per annum in the 90s. This is attributed to diversion of consumer incomes to other spending avenues like EMIs for consumer durables, mobile usage and spending on entertainment and travel. HLL attributes this as the main reason for the FMCG market declining in value terms.

In the five years of Banga's chairmanship, HLL's FMCG business' contribution to sales rose from 75% to 90%, as a series of divestitures of non-FMCG businesses were done.

And from 110 brands, the company has narrowed down to 35 brands across 20 categories.

"The onus is on us to reverse the downtrading in the market to realise the enormous potential in the FMCG market. We see enormous opportunity in increasing penetration and consumption in its key categories, as India's per capita income increases, and expect the FMCG market to increase to Rs100,000 crore in ten years from the present Rs40,000 crore," Banga said.
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Harish Manwani takes over at HLL
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd's in-coming Chairman, Harish Manwani, on Friday stressed that his priorities would be to ensure that said that the company had the right capabilities and the right people.

"I have an excellent team. We have an excellent strategy that allows a whole lot of leaders from among our people," Manwani told presspersons at the end of the company's annual general meeting.

"India is confident and resurgent. It is potentially the world's biggest market," he said.

Earlier, M.S. Banga, the outgoing Chairman, said the rural economy is in a vibrant mode though there are concerns about the progress of monsoon.
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Gopala Pillai is new Chairman of FACT
Thiruvananthapuram: Dr G.C. Gopala Pillai has been appointed the Chairman and Managing Director of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT). He is currently the Managing Director of Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Dr Pillai, who has a PhD in management from the University of Kerala, has worked for over 30 years in various sectors.
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