Pidilite's Parekh family gave the corner office to an outsider in 2015

Pidilite Industries, the maker of Fevicol adhesives, was founded by Balvant Parekh and run for decades by the second generation of his family: elder son M.B. Parekh as chairman and managing director, and the founder's brother N.K. Parekh as joint managing director. In February 2015 the board named Bharat Puri managing director, effective 10 April 2015. Business Standard noted it bluntly: the family had been inducting professionals into senior roles for years, but this was the first time an outsider would occupy the corner office.

Puri was no stranger to the company — he had sat on Pidilite's board as an independent director since 2008. His resume was pure consumer goods: a marketing career that began at Asian Paints in 1982, then Cadbury India, and finally president, global chocolate, gum and candy at Cadbury (later Mondelez) in Zurich. The Parekhs restructured around him rather than away from him: M.B. Parekh stayed on as executive chairman, N.K. Parekh became non-executive chairman, and younger son Ajay Parekh and cousin Apurva Parekh kept their seats as executive directors working alongside the new MD.

The arrangement survived its test. Under Puri the company's consolidated revenue compounded at 9.3% to Rs 6,078 crore by FY18, with net profit doubling over five years to Rs 966 crore and Fevicol holding a market share above 70%. In April 2025, after exactly ten years, Puri handed the managing director's job to Sudhanshu Vats and moved to a non-executive board seat — and M.B. Parekh was still executive chairman, praising a decade of 'substantial progress and significant shareholder value'.

Consolidated revenue grew 9.3% a year to Rs 6,078 crore by FY18 with net profit doubling to Rs 966 crore; Puri ran it for a full decade

The second generation had already spent years hiring professionals into senior roles; the MD handover extended a practiced pattern rather than starting one under pressure.

Puri's nine years as an independent director let the family judge him as an insider, cutting the classic risk of handing the company to a stranger.

Family members kept executive and governance roles around the new MD, so authority was delegated without surrendering control of strategy or capital.

Consumer-goods brands of Pidilite's scale compete on execution and distribution, disciplines Puri had run globally at Cadbury.

A founder-family that keeps the chair and the board but gives the operator's job to a professional can professionalise without losing control — best done from strength, not crisis.

Puri's decade compounded quietly. Revenue rose from a Rs 6,078-crore run-rate in FY18 toward record earnings, the company held a 22% operating margin, and the governance design held: M.B. Parekh remained executive chairman throughout. In 2025 the board named Sudhanshu Vats managing director and Kavinder Singh joint managing director, Puri shifted to a non-executive board term, and Parekh called it 'the next phase of the Pidilite leadership journey' — a professional handing another professional the corner office he once took from a family.