Gopalakrishnan new chairperson of Castrol India

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R Gopalakrishnan, who has been an Independent Director on CIL’s Board, will be new Chairperson of Castrol India, effective 1st October 2019.

Gopalakrishnan has more than 50 years of management experience having lived and worked in India, the UK and Saudi Arabia. He began his career in 1967 as a computer analyst with Hindustan Lever after studying physics in Kolkata and electronic engineering at IIT Kharagpur. He has attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School.

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During his career in Unilever, he held critical positions as Chairman of the Arabian subsidiary based in Jeddah. Thereafter, he was Managing Director, Brooke Bond Lipton India and then Vice Chairman of Hindustan Lever. Later he was an Executive Director at Tata Sons, based in Mumbai. He is currently on the Boards of a few other companies and has written several books on the subject of management.

Susim Datta

Gopalakrishnan is succeeding Susim Datta, who served as the Chairperson and Independent Director of Castrol India (CIL) Board of Directors for 23 years.

Datta is known as a senior corporate statesman having served as Chairman of Hindustan Lever Limited as well as of Unilever Group of Companies in India and Nepal. He has also served on the Board of several reputed Indian corporates.

On the occassion, Omer Dormen, Managing Director of Castrol India, said, “On behalf of the Company, I would like to acknowledge the significant contribution that Datta has made to the business for more than two decades through his strategic vision, perspective and directional guidance. This has helped Castrol India achieve sustained success, growth and increased shareholder value. I would also like to congratulate Gopalakrishnan on his appointment, and I am confident that Castrol India will continue to grow from strength to strength under his leadership.”