Susim Mukul Datta – the magician of mergers and a corporate titan

Merger Magician, Takeover Titan – those were just some of the sobriquets given in the 90s to Susim Mukul Datta, one of the tallest FMCG leaders in India. SMD, as he was fondly known as, was a true example of the CEO factory that Hindustan Unilever (HUL) was in the old days. He joined the company, then known as HLL, as a young management trainee and rose through the corporate ranks, through chemicals, soaps and detergents, to become chairman of the company in 1990.

Datta, who passed away in Mumbai on July 5, steered HLL at one of the most critical junctures for a corporate in India – the period of liberalisation. He helped HLL navigate the transition from the control raj days to the liberalised era with great skill, taking advantage of all the opportunities that an opened up economy provided. During Datta’s seven-year tenure (he retired in 1996), HLL made at least ten acquisitions and entered into several strategic alliances that speeded its growth.

As R Gopalakrishnan, former director of Tata Sons, who worked 31 years in Unilever, and closely with SMD, observes, “Susim Datta’s stewardship of HLL began just before India’s liberalisation. He and the leadership team responded and steered the HLL ship through the stormy times through relentless focus on quality upgradation, innovation, team collaboration, and acquisitions.”

Datta saw acquisitions not only as a means of achieving extraordinary growth but also a quick step to diversification. In a candid interview to his grandson that is up on the internet, Datta describes how liberalisation opened many doors and the highly talented team he was leading was ready to pounce.   

The Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO) acquisition, especially, was considered as historic as it required great persuasion by SMD. For him personally, he had said the high point was getting to meet and work with JRD Tata. The charismatic leader also led a string of memorable mergers, especially the joining of tea and coffee companies Brooke Bond with Lipton, which helped achieve economies of scale for the company. There was also the 50:50 joint venture with Kimberley Clark, a strategic alliance with Kwality Walls.

Old-timers in HUL recall that Datta was a really strong technical CEO and was diligent, committed and focussed. He was the first director of chemicals for the company. He headed detergents and one of his notable successes was the scaling of Wheel, the low-cost detergent.

SMD groomed his team well, and was always interested in the lives of people around him. Says Krish Shankar, former group HR head at Infosys, who worked closely with SMD at HLL, “Mr Datta was a wonderful leader and a great human being. He was very grounded, and a good listener too. He was one of those leaders who always had that bit of grace and elegance about him, a presence that was not loud but very awe-inspiring. He was a great mentor to many people especially in the technical area. He was a great leader from a very different era where substance was more important than style.”

He may have retired from HUL in 1996, but his corporate innings blazed for many more decades as he had prominent board roles in companies like ICICI Bank, Philips India, Peerless, Castrol, British Oxygen, Wipro and Tata Steel, where he made a huge difference with his strategic acumen and futuristic perspectives. His speeches – that were handwritten – held audiences spellbound. An old-timer at Philips recalls how he had the art of assuaging frayed tempered shareholders in a very charming manner. Corporate India has lost a legend.

Published on July 5, 2025