People & Growth

For decades, Procter & Gamble has stood as the archetype of an American multinational, its Cincinnati headquarters shaping consumer culture across continents. Yet in its 187-year history, never before has the company’s leadership bench looked as distinctly Indian as it does today. In a moment that marks both continuity and reinvention, P&G’s corner office will, for the first time, be helmed by an Indian-origin leader. Shailesh Jejurikar, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, will step into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2026. His rise is not just a personal milestone; it is a signal of the shifting global balance of talent, where India has emerged as one of the most vital crucibles for leadership in the consumer goods industry.

Jejurikar’s story is one of patience and quiet power. Born and educated in India, an alumnus of Mumbai University and IIM Lucknow, he entered P&G in 1989 as an Assistant Brand Manager. What followed was a career of breadth and depth, shaping brand strategies across Asia, leading businesses in Europe, driving growth in North America. Today, his ascent to CEO is being celebrated not simply because he is the first Indian in the role, but because he embodies the company’s modern ethos: global in outlook, rooted in local understanding, and relentlessly focused on consumer needs. It is a quality honed in India, where managers are trained to thrive in diverse markets, extract growth from constraints, and craft innovation at scale.

He is not alone. Alongside Jejurikar stands a constellation of Indian-origin leaders who now define the future of P&G’s most powerful businesses. Sundar Raman, who began as a market analyst in India, today commands P&G’s largest division, Fabric and Home Care, with brands like Tide, Ariel, Downy and Febreze under his wing.

Freddy Bharucha, another Indian alumnus of P&G’s leadership pipeline, is set to take over as CEO of the company’s Beauty division in December 2025, stewarding a portfolio that stretches from Olay to Pantene.

Bala Purushothaman, as Global Chief Human Resources Officer, steers the company’s people and talent strategy worldwide.

Kirti Singh, who heads Consumer Market Knowledge, sits at the nexus of insights, analytics and media, arming the company with the intelligence to stay ahead of consumer behaviour. This is not token representation; it is a deep bench of Indian-origin executives orchestrating strategy, innovation and execution at the highest levels of one of the world’s largest companies.

The symbolism of this Indian rise within P&G cannot be overstated. For a company whose alumni include some of the most respected global CEOs across industries, India has emerged as one of its most fertile training grounds. A testament to this are P&G's Indian alumni leaders such as Shantanu Khosla of Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd, Neil George of Abbot, Geetu Gidwani who built her career at Pepsi and later Unilever, and Govind Iyer, who moved from Egon Zhender to the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. Over the years, the P&G India affiliate has grown into a talent factory, consistently exporting leaders who have gone on to occupy boardrooms across Geneva and Cincinnati. To observers of global corporate leadership, the message is clear: the Indian market, with its scale, diversity and complexity, is not merely a growth geography, it is a leadership academy.

Vikram Sakhuja, who has previously worked at P&G for almost a decade and currently serves as the Group CEO, Madison Media & OOH, shares, “I subscribe to the belief that leaders are more ‘made’ than ‘born’. And that is where P&G’s organisational strength comes in. A few factors come to mind. KPIs focused on both business and organisation building; focus on functional specialisation, promotion from within, world-class playbooks and skill-based training; for me memo writing skills, a copy of Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful Managers, Comment organiser, new product launch process, are among the trainings that have been deeply etched in my upbringing. You will notice that all these leaders have been with P&G for over 30 years. You put a great guy into a great company and you get exceptional results.”

He adds that Indian managers have stronger analytical skills and arguably work harder. “One other interesting feature of these leaders is that they all joined at a time when P&G was just forming in India. I think we were really hungry to understand the P&G way of working so perhaps we were better sponges,” he states.

The Jejurikar story adds another layer of intrigue, for it is not just Shailesh who has ascended to the top. His elder brother, Rajesh Jejurikar, leads Mahindra & Mahindra’s Auto and Farm divisions in India, steering one of the country’s most iconic conglomerates into its next chapter. Two brothers, two very different industries, and two top jobs that represent the pinnacle of global and Indian corporate ambition. Their twin rise underscores the emergence of an Indian leadership gene pool that is increasingly setting the tone for business worldwide. Anand Mahindra himself remarked on Shailesh’s appointment, hailing it as proof that Indian leaders now occupy the centre stage in boardrooms across the globe.

Expressing his joy on his brother’s milestone success, Rajesh Jejurikar, ED & CEO (Auto & Farm Sectors), Mahindra Group, says, “It is a proud moment for India and the family that Shailesh has been elected to be the global CEO of Procter & Gamble, which is amongst the top 25 Most Valuable Companies in the World!”

What makes this leadership shift remarkable is not simply geography or ethnicity, but perspective. Indian managers, trained in markets that are complex, competitive, and constantly evolving, bring a distinct ability to adapt, to lead with empathy, and to innovate under constraints. They understand the art of premiumisation and affordability in the same breath, the science of mass distribution and the craft of aspirational branding. It is precisely this balance that P&G needs as it navigates a fragmented global economy, shifting supply chains, and increasingly demanding consumers. Under Indian-origin leadership, the company’s strategy is being recalibrated to deliver both resilience and relevance.

For the world of marketing, this is a case study in itself. The company that gave the world the very idea of brand management is now being redefined by Indian-origin leaders who cut their teeth in one of the world’s most dynamic consumer markets. Their rise is not a coincidence; it is the logical outcome of India’s transformation into a global talent hub. In the coming years, as Jejurikar takes the reins and his fellow executives steer billion-dollar divisions, the P&G story will no longer be narrated only from Cincinnati. It will echo with the accents of Mumbai, Chennai and other cities of India, voices that carry the confidence of India and the cadence of the world.

This is more than a leadership reshuffle. It is the rewriting of a legacy. Procter & Gamble, the quintessential American giant, is today powered by Indian minds shaping its global tomorrow. And in that lies both a promise and a precedent: that the next era of global consumer leadership may very well have an Indian accent.