Hero MotoCorp’s ex-CEO Niranjan Gupta to Join Hindustan Unilever as CFO

Hero MotoCorp’s previous Chief Executive Officer Niranjan Gupta will join consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) as its Chief Financial Officer from September 1.

Gupta served as the CEO of India’s largest two-wheeler maker for two years, till April 2025. He joined Hero MotoCorp in 2017 and had also been in the role of CFO and head of Strategy and M&A.

Gupta’s resignation from Hero MotoCorp came at a time when the company is facing intense competition from other major players, such as Honda Motorcycles and Scooters, TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto.

Hero MotoCorp lost its number one spot to Honda a couple of months recently. Hero’s market share fell sharply from 37.04% in FY21 to 28.61% in FY25, while Honda saw its market share increase from 25.58% to 27.17%.

Hero MotoCorp, which has named its executive director for Operations Vikram Kasbekar, as the acting CEO following Gupta’s resignation this year, is yet to find a replacement for Gupta. Along with Gupta, Chief Business Officer Ranjivjit Singh had also resigned.

Gupta started his career with Hindustan Unilever as a finance manager in 1994. He worked with HUL for 12 years, and then joined its parent company Unilever in 2008 as chief procurement officer for South Asia. 

When he resigned from Unilever to join Vedanta Resources in 2014, he was serving as the global finance director for the household care business in the London region.

In his new role as CFO at HUL, he will report to the newly appointed CEO and MD Priya Nair. Gupta will also become the executive director for Finance at HUL for a term of 5 years.