Henkel, a leading global player in adhesives, home care and beauty care, has appointed Shilip Kumar as the President of its India business, effective June 1, 2016. Besides, steering the Adhesives and Beauty care businesses of Henkel Adhesives Technologies India Private Limited (Henkel India), he will continue in his existing role of Business Director for Transportation & Metal Adhesives SBU in the India,Middle East, Africa (IMEA) region. Shilip succeeds Jeremy Hunter, who led the India business for over five years, and has now moved to Shanghai as President – Henkel China. Based out of Henkel India‘s head office at Navi Mumbai, Shilip will be responsible for leading Henkel’s businesses in India through its next growth phase.
Shilip started his journey with Henkel in 2011 as Business Director of the Transportation and Metal SBU in India. He was at that point in time responsible for integrating the SBU’s operations across 3 legal entities, including 2 Joint Ventures, to leverage the scale of its business in the country. He also spearheaded the India Innovation Center – Pune project for Henkel. The Center was commissioned in October 2013 and has since contributed significantly to the success of Henkel’s Adhesives business in India. He was promoted as Business Director of Transportation and Metal SBU in the then newly created region of India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA) in April 2013 and has since successfully led the profitable growth of that business. He relocated to the IMEA regional HQ in Dubai in January 2015
Commenting on his new role Shilip said, “I am pleased to take up the additional responsibility as President of Henkel India. India offers considerable growth potential for Henkel and it will be our endeavor to ensure that we utilize effectively the resources and investments made by our parent company to capitalize on this potential. Our focus remains on delivering innovative technologies and solutions that help create value for our customers in the country.”
Shilip started his career in 1989 with the Management Consultancy Division of A.F. Fergusson & Co., followed by stints with Asian Paints and Rohm & Haas. His most recent assignment prior to joining Henkel was with Dow Chemicals as the Business Director for Dow Coating Materials in South Asia. He was part of the “startup” team at Rohm & Haas in India, which developed the business from scratch to a multi-million dollar business including setting up of local green field manufacturing in the country.