Honasa Consumer, Mamaearth Parent Company, Stregthens Corporate Governance With 50% Independent Board Members 

Honasa Consumer Ltd. (HCL), parent company of brands such as Mamaearth, The Derma Co., Aqualogica and Ayuga, is excited to share that their board now comprises of 50% independent board members. Appointment of independent directors on the board is extremely significant to ensure that the board considers the interests of shareholders foremost. It is likely to support independent decision-making and to moderate conflicting views and opinions by board members in favor of the shareholders.

The board of Honasa Consumer Limited comprises of six members, namely, Ghazal Alagh, Varun Alagh, Ishaan Mittal, Vivek Gambhir, Namita Gupta and Subramaniam Somasundaram. Out of these, Ghazal and Varun Alagh are co-founders of the Company, and Ishaan Mittal is a nominee of Sequoia Capital on the board of HCL. Whereas, Vivek Gambhir, Namita Gupta and Subramaniam Somasundaram are independent board members who have decades of experience in FMCG, and ecommerce marketplace, hence the understanding, evaluation and mentoring imparted by the board on HCL’s plans, and performance are extremely pivotal in charting the way forward for the organization. These independent board members will be part of the statutory committee, audit committee, nomination and remuneration committee, stakeholder committee and other committees wherein the independent directors may constitute more than 65% to ensure compliance with all parameters of corporate governance measures like transparency, control measures et. al.

Commenting on this, Varun Alagh, Co-Founder and CEO, Honasa Consumer Ltd. said, “An independent board is critical for any organization for unbiased decision making. In the past, we have been fortunate to have such experienced individuals on the board of Honasa Consumer Limited. Our board members have helped keep checks and balances in place to ensure we take calculated risks and mitigate tough situations.”

Ramanpreet Sohi, CFO, Honasa Consumer Ltd., “In order to maintain governance checks and balances and ensure transparency and control measures, companies appoint independent board members. Over the last 5 years, Honasa Consumer has witnessed fast paced growth. While the statutory requirement is of 33% of independent board members, we have opted to keep 50% of our board as independent board members, to ensure readiness for future. They have been instrumental in ensuring strict checkpoints through our working over the years.”

Vivek Gambhir is an Independent Director of our Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in arts and a bachelor’s degree of science from Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. Further, he holds a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has been associated with our Company as a director since March 24, 2021. Previously, he has worked with Bain & Company India Private Limited for a period of over 11 years where he was last associated as “Partner”, and with Godrej Consumer Products Limited for a period of over 11 years where he was last associated as “Whole-time Director”. He has previously been the co-chair of the Confederation of Indian Industry, National FMCG Committee and served as the president of the Harvard Business School Club of India.

Subramaniam Somasundaram is an Independent Director of our Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree of commerce from University of Madras, Madras and is a chartered accountant and cost accountant. Previously, he was the chief financial officer for Titan Company Limited for a decade. During his association with Titan Company Limited, he was also on the board of its subsidiaries like Caratlane Trading Private Limited and Titan Engineering and Automation Limited. Currently he is also an Independent Director on the boards of Teamlease Services Limited, Avanti Finance Private Limited, API Holdings Limited, Landmark Retail FZE (Dubai) and Innoviti Technologies Private Limited.