Indian-origin Phatak is Unilever's finance chief

MUMBAI: Consumer goods giant Unilever has appointed India-born Srinivas Phatak as its chief financial officer, a little over six months after putting him in charge as acting CFO. Phatak's appointment is effective immediately, the London-headquartered firm said on Tuesday. Phatak, 53, will join a league of Indian-origin CFOs at global giants like Apple and Tesla (see graphic).

Born in Hyderabad, Phatak's father hails from Maharashtra, while his mother is from Andhra Pradesh - his parents were employees at Syndicate Bank (now Canara Bank). Phatak has spent over two decades across Unilever and its Indian arm HUL, having started his stint at the company as a finance manager with HUL 26 years ago.

Phatak stepped into HUL's Mumbai office on Sept 15, 1999 - and in another Sept two decades later, he is taking over the Unilever CFO's office in London. "Sept 15, 1999 - I remember walking into the HUL office in Mumbai as a direct recruit... Sept 15, 2026 - 26 years to the day, I've been entrusted by the Board of Unilever with the privilege of becoming chief financial officer of this great company," Phatak said in a post on Linkedin.

Amid stiff competition from new-age upstarts who are rewriting the rules of consumption and changing consumer behaviour in the digital age where trends shift at the tap of smartphones, Unilever has been reshuffling its C-suite in global office London and second-largest market India - where it plans to invest "disproportionately", delivering "above group average volume growth" - the maker of Dove shampoos and Knorr soups said in its latest quarterly earnings. Unilever's market cap has dropped more than 6% over a year to $152.4 billion.

Earlier this year, Unilever replaced CEO Hein Schumacher with former finance chief Fernando Fernandez. Phatak, the then deputy CFO and group controller had taken over as the acting CFO. In India, the company has tasked homegrown talent Priya Nair, its first woman CEO for the region, to steer HUL's growth, replacing Rohit Jawa. Recently, HUL also named Niranjan Gupta as its new CFO who will take over in Nov.

Phatak, with his experience spanning India and global markets, has been appointed as the CFO at a time when Unilever is stepping up its focus on India. From 2017 to mid-2021, Phatak was CFO for HUL and VP Finance South Asia, playing a key role in accelerating the growth of the business and driving value creation. During his tenure, the India business gained corporate share and grew over 7% with over 300bps margin expansion, leading to the doubling of HUL market capitalisation. Through the course of his career at Unilever, Phatak has covered all parts of business and corporate finance, besides leading large scale transformation projects.

His wife is an eye surgeon and works at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London..