Mumbai: Douglas Baillie will take over as CEO of Hindustan Lever Limited, India, from March 1, 2006. In addition, he will be group vice president responsible for Unilever's business in South Asia, which includes Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Baillie is currently group vice president and heads Unilever AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey).

Arun Adhikari currently MD, home and personal care (HPC) division of HLL, will take over as chairman, Unilever Japan. Both appointments will take effect from March 1, 2006. The board of directors of HLL had approved the new appointments as its meeting held in Mumbai yesterday.

The new appointments were announced today by Harish Manwani, president, Unilever Asia and Africa, and chairman, HLL.

The Unilever Asia-Africa region (including India), is the fastest growing region amongst Unilever's three principal regions that also include the Americas' and Europe.

Announcing the appointments, Manwani said, "India and Japan are key to our long term sustained growth in the region. I believe that these two appointments will provide a renewed strategic thrust to these businesses. Both appointments reflect Unilever's commitment to enriching and widening international exposure of our leadership.

"Douglas is an experienced and an outstanding leader with a proven track record. He has successfully held several key assignments across both developing and developed markets. This will be of enormous value to HLL in the current business environment."

"Arun's appointment as the chairman of Unilever Japan, including responsibility for Korea, is a significant step to further strengthen our business in these most developed markets of Asia. His experience in leading a large FMCG business in a complex market like India will be of critical importance in his new role."

Manwani, as the chairman of Hindustan Lever Limited, will continue to head the HLL board providing strategic direction and guidance to the business in India. HLL being the largest operating entity in the Asia and Africa region will remain a key focus area for him as the president of the region.

M K Sharma will continue with his current responsibilities as vice chairman, D Sundaram as director, finance and IT, and S Ravindranath as the managing director of foods. The current national management structure of HLL will be extended to a broader management committee headed by Baillie.

For the January-September nine-month period of 2005, HLL has had a double-digit growth across categories, including the competitive laundry and hair-wash categories.