Mr. Arun Adhikari

Independent Director

Mr. Arun Adhikari graduated from the country’s most prestigious institutions. Along with a BTech in chemical engineering from Indian Institute of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur; he also obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta in 1977. Later on in 1997, he also went to complete the Advanced Management Program at The Wharton School, USA. His expertise ranges from sales, marketing & distribution to risk advisory, corporate governance as well as sustainability.

He joined Unilever as a management trainee in 1977, and had a long illustrious career – as he held senior roles across sales, marketing and consumer research. He headed the home and personal care business of the company in India; and later on, headed the laundry category business across Asia and Africa out of Singapore. He was responsible for various aspects of the business including sales, market share, profitability as well as brand equity.

He was also the chairman of Unilever in Japan, and also worked for two years in London at the Unilever Head Office in the Corporate Strategy group. He was also a part of Hindustan Unilever Board, where he was involved in risk management and corporate governance.

In his stint as a Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company in India, he worked with many consumers as well as industrial companies with marketing, sales as well as strategy. He advised companies across sectors like agrochemicals & pesticides, transportation as well as metals and mining companies. He worked very closely with a large steel company and was involved in its strategy and aided its transformation into value-added products.

He was a part of the company’s product expansion into the consumer markets. Later, he was also on the board of one of the country’s largest cement companies as well as consumer durables major; expanding his advisory umbrella to the construction and engineering solutions sectors. He has been an Independent Director since at various company Boards as a part of Audit, Nomination & Remuneration and Risk Committees.  

Over the years, he has served as a member of the executive and governing bodies of several industrial, trade and professional associations in India; and worked with the government closely in the process. Some of them include Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Indian Society of Advertisers, Indian Soaps and Toiletries Manufacturers Association, and Market Research Society of India (MRSI).

His directorships in body corporates are as follows: