According to an Economic Times report, The template in recent years for CEO appointments at Hindustan Unilever had executives rise through the ranks, hold the top job in India and move on to meaty global roles at its Dutch parent, Unilever. In the last 13 years, NitinParanjpe and MS 'Vindi' Banga have charted that course, though Doug Baillie, in the middle for two years, was an exception.

The report says that the surprise appointment of 53-year-old Sanjiv Mehta, as managing director and CEO of HUL, inverts the geographical contours of that professional journey. Mehta has never worked in the Indian company - the only India-born HUL CEO not to have done so - but he has headed two countries and a region in his 21-year career in Unilever.

Unlike his recent predecessors who studied, cut their teeth and built their reputation in the rough-and-tough of marketing - like Paranjpe and Banga - Mehta is a chartered accountant by training who transited to a broader profile along the way.

Read the ET report here