Kedar Lele moves on from Castrol India

Kedar Lele has moved on from his role as managing director, Castrol India and vice president, South Asia, after a little over a year with the lubricant major. He was based in Mumbai and took on the leadership role in September 2024. Lele posted about this development through a LinkedIn post.

At Castrol India, Lele was responsible for steering the company’s overall strategy and operations, drawing on his experience across sales, marketing, e-commerce, advertising, digital innovation and customer development.

Prior to joining Castrol, Lele spent close to 14 years with Unilever in leadership roles across India and South Asia. Most recently, he served as executive director at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and head of customer development, South Asia, where he was a member of the management committee and led the end-to-end sales and customer development function.

His earlier roles at Unilever include chairman and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh, chief operating officer, and vice president roles overseeing e-commerce, modern trade and key institutional channels in India. Across these stints, he managed large teams and led growth across traditional, modern and digital channels.

Lele’s career also includes senior roles at Kimberly Clark Lever, where he headed sales and marketing, and earlier marketing and sales responsibilities at Unilever India, Monster.com and DDB Mudra Group.