Colgate India appoints Manish Anandani as new CEO in surprise top-level reshuffle

In a surprise leadership rejig, Colgate-Palmolive India has appointed Manish Anandani as its new managing director and chief executive, effective 28 September 2026, replacing Prabha Narasimhan, who is moving to a regional role within the global company.

Narasimhan will step down as MD and CEO at the close of business on 27 September and take up the role of executive vice president—marketing, Asia-Pacific Division, Colgate-Palmolive. The company announced the changes in an exchange filing on 21 August.

Anandani joins from Kevenue, previously Johnson & Johnson, where he was managing director of India markets.

He is also a familiar face at Colgate-Palmolive. Anandani originally joined the company in 2005 as a regional manager and went on to hold multiple roles across India, Indochina and the corporate office before leaving Colgate-Palmolive in 2018.

His return brings experience across sales, marketing and ecommerce, as well as experience running a company as managing director.

Narasimhan’s run

“During Prabha Narasimhan’s four-year tenure at the helm of Colgate-Palmolive India, she steered the company through a transformative growth journey, reinforcing its position as the market leader in oral care,” the company said in a press statement.

“Under her leadership, the company doubled down on strategic premiumization, accelerating premium portfolio growth to five times the pace of the broader market, while delivering volume-led growth, industry-leading profitability, and consistent top-line momentum,” the press statement said.

Narasimhan has been at the helm of Colgate-Palmolive India since 2022.

The period also had tough competition. Dabur’s Red toothpaste emerged as a major competitor to Colgate during Narasimhan’s tenure. The company was recovering from the challenger brand Patanjali’s Dant Kanti's run in the last decade.

Colgate had introduced the ayurvedic product Ved Shakti to tap into this market, without much success. The global management had accepted it as a wrong bet.

"The India business unfortunately had gotten distracted, and we got back to the core of what it stood for. We got distracted with the Ayurvedic segment. We took a step back and said, ‘let’s get back to what we stand for,’” global chief executive Noel Wallace said during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference in September 2024.

Since then, Colgate has doubled down on its science-led innovation to help the company remain differentiated among emerging competitors.

After the pandemic, more startups emerged in the oral care segment like RPSG Capital Ventures and Sauce VC backed Perfora and Lotus Holdings backed Salt.

The leadership change was decided at a 45-minute board meeting early on Friday, 21 August. Narasimhan tendered her resignation on 21 August and will continue as CEO until 27 September 2026.

Palmolive test

The leadership change comes days after Narasimhan acknowledged a key weak spot in the company's portfolio.

In her last address to analysts on 17 August, Narasimhan said she was disappointed with the performance of the Palmolive brand.

“I must confess that this has been an area of disappointment. We've not done a great job with Palmolive,” Narasimhan said.

Analyst view

Analysts at Nuvama said the “overhang goes away” for Colgate India following the appointment of the new chief executive.

They added that Anandani has the required experience in sales, marketing and ecommerce and has served as MD of a company for five years.

The analysts also said the change does not represent an abrupt transition and is a well-planned one.

Shares of the company were trading down 19% from a year ago on the National Stock Exchange on Friday morning, compared with a 3% decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 over the same period.