Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Wednesday inducted Madhusudhan Rao and Deepak Subramanian to its management committee.

Rao has been appointed executive director, beauty and wellbeing and personal care, while Subramanian is executive director, home care.

Rao replaces Priya Nair who will move into her new global role as chief marketing officer, beauty and wellbeing.

Subramanian will take over from Prabha Narasimhan, who is leaving the company.

At present, Rao is executive vice-president – home and hygiene, Unilever. He joined HUL in 1991, the company said.

Rao has a strong track record in marketing, customer development and brand development across geographies.

Subramanian is now vice-president home care, South-East Asia/ANZ(SEAA) and global head, fabric enhancers. He joined HUL in 1995 as a management trainee.

The stock markets reacted positively to the announcement with HUL shares rising 2.56 per cent or Rs 49.95 to close at Rs 1,997.65 on the BSE.

“Madhusudhan has a successful track record in a variety of operational and strategic roles. He has brought in a strong performance edge in his teams and has pioneered several innovations that uphold Unilever’s high science and technology credentials," Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director, HUL said.

“Deepak has championed innovation and sustainable strategies to significantly improve brand equity and deliver growth. He has demonstrated superior business acumen in building new categories, primarily in start-up business verticals. I am certain that they will take the business to the next level of performance.’’ Mehta said.

The announcement comes just days after HUL separated the position of the chairman and the CEO and managing director.

While Nitin Paranjpe, currently chief operating officer of Unilever, will take over as the non-executive chairman of the company with effect from March 31, Mehta will continue as the CEO and MD.

HUL reported a 17 per cent rise in standalone net profit for the third quarter. Net profit rose to Rs 2,243 crore against Rs 1,921 crore in the same period of the previous year.