Haleon Appoints Former Castrol MD Kedar Lele as India Subcontinent President

Haleon (formerly GSK Consumer Healthcare India) on Friday announced Kedar Lele as president, India subcontinent. Lele moves from Castrol India, where he was managing director, and has succeeded former Haleon India chief Navneet Saluja, who retired in October 2025.

ET first reported the development in its November 28 edition.

The British consumer healthcare maker produces Sensodyne toothpaste, Iodex pain balm, and over-the-counter fever relief medication Crocin, among other products.


Lele will also join the Haleon Executive Team (HET), the company’s global leadership entity, a statement said. His previous assignments have been in leadership roles at Hindustan Unilever Ltd, among others.

HUL, which had merged with GSK Consumer Healthcare in 2020 by acquiring Horlicks and Boost, had spun off GSK as a separate global consumer healthcare business two years later to create Haleon as an independent company.

Saluja retired after 17 years at Haleon, where he held diverse leadership roles in functions across sales and strategy, as well as overseeing Horlicks' divestment to HUL, followed by setting up Haleon as an independent entity in India.

Haleon said in its last reported July–September ’25 earnings that its oral health revenue increased 6.9% globally, and added that Sensodyne toothpaste grew by a high single-digit percentage with market share gains in the US and India.

"The company saw consistent growth and sequential volume improvement across Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions, with emerging markets in both these regions up 7%, led by India and strong growth in a number of smaller markets, including Thailand and Malaysia,” Dawn Allen, the company’s chief financial officer, had said on an earnings call.

"In India, we are continuing to make good progress by expanding reach through export coverage, which is up 70% since the start of the year. We are bringing new innovations, including Sensodyne ProNamel, to market. Sensodyne for lower-income consumers is now in over 500,000 outlets across 10,000 villages,” Allen had added.

Recent months have seen a slew of new chiefs of consumer companies, including HUL, Britannia, L’Oreal, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Panasonic, Nestle, and Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting.