Priya Nair

CEO and Managing Director — Hindustan Unilever (HUL)

About Priya Nair

Key facts Role: Chief executive officer and managing director Organisation: Hindustan Unilever (HUL) Country: India Sector: Consumer goods Headline figures: Underlying sales growth of 10 per cent in the quarter to June 2026; quarterly turnover of ₹17,184 crore A year into the job, Priya Nair has put Hindustan Unilever back into growth mode. The company is India's consumer-goods bellwether and she is its first woman chief executive. In the quarter to June 2026 HUL reported underlying sales growth of 10 per cent, its fastest in 13 quarters, split evenly between volume and price. In September she used her first investor day to set out a five-year strategy called "Winning in New India", intended to end a subdued two-year stretch in which revenue grew at a compound rate of about 4 per cent (Fortune India, 8 September 2026). The role As managing director and chief executive, Nair runs the Indian arm of Unilever, one of the country's largest makers of soaps, detergents, food and beauty products. In April-June 2026 it recorded turnover of ₹17,184 crore and EBITDA of ₹3,947 crore. Profit after tax before exceptional items rose 9 per cent to ₹2,731 crore. Reported net profit fell 2 per cent to ₹2,680 crore because the year-earlier quarter included a one-off tax credit (Business Standard; ETRetail, 28 July 2026). She also sits on the Unilever Leadership Executive, the group's top management team, which gives her a say in the global company's priorities. Background HUL announced her appointment on 10 July 2025 for a five-year term from 1 August 2025, succeeding Rohit Jawa. Nair joined HUL in 1995 and worked in sales and marketing across home care, beauty and personal care. She was executive director for home care from 2014 to 2020 and for beauty and personal care from 2020 to 2022. She then became Unilever's global chief marketing officer for beauty and wellbeing. From 2023 she was president of Unilever's beauty and wellbeing business in London, a portfolio that Business Standard put at €13 billion across more than 20 countries. She is a commerce graduate of Sydenham College, Mumbai, and holds an MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune. “We have been very transparent about the areas that we needed to do work.” — Nair, to analysts at the investor day, as quoted by Fortune India The strategy Her strategy rests on four growth vectors: raising consumption, premiumisation, market development and entry into new spaces, according to Fortune India. HUL says it can generate around 500 basis points of "fuel for growth" over five years through a richer premium mix, operating leverage, cost savings and AI-led efficiencies in media. A new Future Savings Lab is meant to deliver a further 100 basis points of savings. The company expects AI to make content creation around 50 per cent faster and 50 to 75 per cent cheaper. Capital spending is rising, including about ₹2,000 crore for premium liquid-format capacity in southern India. She has been candid about the backdrop. "We are [in a] very subdued demand environment in which we are operating," she told analysts at the investor day, as quoted by Fortune India. "We have been very transparent about the areas that we needed to do work." Fortune India reported that institutional investors wanted firmer milestones and timelines for when double-digit earnings growth would return. In the July results statement she said the underlying demand environment "remained stable" and noted that the Indian economy had shown resilience. Reach Her decisions reach far beyond HUL's balance sheet. The company's pricing, pack sizes and distribution choices affect household budgets across a market Fortune India describes as 1.4 billion consumers, where per-capita consumption of packaged goods remains low. Through her seat on Unilever's leadership team, India's performance also shapes the global group's growth story. What to watch: whether volume growth holds as price increases taper off, how quickly premium portfolios scale, and whether the investor-day targets turn into the earnings acceleration that shareholders want. She ranks ninth because she runs India's largest consumer-goods company at a turning point and has a seat at Unilever's top table. Sources Fortune India, Priya Nair reboots HUL with 'Winning in New India', but investors want to know when growth will accelerate , 8 Sep 2026 Business Standard, HUL Q1FY27 result: Profit falls 3% to ₹2,673 cr, revenue rises 10% annually , 28 Jul 2026 ETRetail (Economic Times), HUL posts highest growth in 13 quarters; Q1 turnover rises to Rs 17,184 crore , 28 Jul 2026 Business Standard, HUL appoints Priya Nair as CEO & MD from Aug 1, first woman to lead company , 10 Jul 2025 The Indian Express, Priya Nair to take over as Hindustan Unilever MD & CEO from Rohit Jawa , 10 Jul 2025

Why this entry is on the list

She ranks ninth because she runs India's largest consumer-goods company at a turning point and has a seat at Unilever's top table. HUL's underlying sales grew 10 per cent in the quarter to June 2026, its fastest in 13 quarters, and in September she set out a five-year strategy called "Winning in New India".