Why Reckitt India doesn’t have an Managing Director

In December 2011, Reckitt India appointed the then Paras Pharma CEO, S Raghunandan, as managing director, but he resigned after just three weeks. “We are looking for a successor, both internally and externally, and it is important,” says Chander Mohan Sethi, current head of Reckitt India.

R Suresh, MD of executive-search firm Stanton Chase International, says, without referring to Reckitt, that the process takes time. “There are two parts to a search: selection of a candidate and the person making the transition to the new organisation,” he says. “This can take six to 12 months.”

But another head-hunter, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says the company management is yet to decide on whether to bring in an MD, or let Sethi continue in a dual role of India and region head, or elevate someone from within.

An analyst tracking the deal says Raghunandan’s appointment wasn’t a sweetener to the Paras deal; Reckitt had chosen him to head its India operations and he had even undergone a six-month training at the company's UK headquarters in late-2011.

Known as a turnaround specialist, 48-year-old Raghunandan took over as CEO of Paras in 2008. Previously, he headed Dabur's International operations as its CEO based in Dubai and spent a decade at Hindustan Unilever in the 1990s.

While Raghunandan cited health reasons for quitting, a former senior Reckitt India executive says he didn’t see much of a role for himself in the changed structure. This January, Reckitt India became the regional headquarters for South & South-East Asia, headed by Gurgaon-based Sethi. “Staying in the shadows of the regional head, Raghunandan would have had little freedom in decision-making,” says the executive, requesting anonymity.

Sethi falls short of admitting as much. “We knew he had health issues, but it might have been an after-thought for him,” he says. “Sometimes, when you enter a house you have bought, you tend to have this post-purchase dissonance.”