Godrej Consumer shares fall 10% and hit three-year low after sudden CEO exit

Shares of Godrej Consumer Products fell 10% in Wednesday’s trade after managing director and CEO Sudhir Sitapati resigned from the company, just days after shareholders approved his reappointment for another five-year term.

The stock fell to an intraday low of around ₹916 before recovering some of its losses. The sharp fall came a day after GCPL announced that Sitapati had resigned with immediate effect.

The stock hit a three-year low of ₹909 during the session, down from its previous close of ₹1,035.
The sudden fall wiped out a significant amount of market value from the company, with market capitalisation standing at around ₹93,110 crore. 

The timing of the exit caught investors by surprise. Shareholders had approved Sitapati’s reappointment at the company’s annual general meeting on August 7. His new term was supposed to start on October 18. He resigned on August 10. The company did not give a specific reason for his resignation.

In his resignation letter, Sitapati said it was the “right time to move on” and referred to “new beginnings”.

GCPL has appointed Aasif Malbari, its chief financial officer, as the new managing director and CEO for five years, subject to shareholder approval. Malbari will take charge from August 12. Vishal Kedia has been appointed interim CFO.

Malbari joined Godrej in 2023 and has more than three decades of experience across consumer goods and automotive companies, including Hindustan Unilever and Tata Motors.

Nisaba Godrej, executive chairperson of GCPL, said on an analyst call that the company now needs greater “execution rigour”. “What we want is a step up in execution, delivering results,” she said.

She also said the company needs to move faster in areas such as online sales and digital marketing. GCPL plans to eventually have separate CEOs for its India and international businesses.

The company has said the leadership change will allow it to maintain continuity while focusing more on execution. For investors, however, the sudden departure of a CEO who had been reappointed only days earlier has created uncertainty around the company’s next phase.

Strong Q1FY2027 earnings

The sudden change at the top comes after a relatively strong first quarter for the company. For the quarter ended June 30, GCPL’s consolidated revenue from operations rose 18.3% year-on-year to ₹4,225 crore. Net profit increased 11.5% to ₹504.5 crore.

The company’s India business reported 7% volume growth, while standalone sales rose 12% to ₹2,535 crore. Sales in Indonesia increased 15%, while sales across Africa, the US and the Middle East rose 47%.

GCPL had earlier said it expected revenue to grow in the high teens in the June quarter. It had also maintained its full-year guidance of double-digit revenue growth and high-single-digit volume growth.

However, the company continues to face pressure from raw material costs. GCPL said crude oil and other input prices remained volatile during the quarter, putting pressure on margins, although costs had started to ease towards the end of the period.