Intel President, Renee James to step down

Renée James, the Intel Corp. president will step down in January 2016, to pursue an external chief executive role, Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said in a statement. During her 28 years at Intel, James has held roles of executive vice president and general manager of the software and services group and COO of the chipmaker’s online services, data centre services business among others, according to the company’s website. Meanwhile, Intel also announced the departure of Arvind Sodhani, the president of its venture capital arm. Sodhani would retire in January, handing over the reins to Wendell Brooks, president of mergers and acquisitions. Sodhani, whose career with the company spans 34 years, is a vice president too.

Ratan Tata backs Net initiative for women

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the country the tag of digitised nation, Tata Trusts, chaired by Ratan Tata, tied up with Google and Intel to help women access the Internet in large numbers under this initiative. The three-way initiative comes on the heels of the Digital India programme launched by Modi, who pitched for a digital revolution in the country. Modi also exhorted the industry to boost domestic production of electronic devices, which account for the second largest imports, under the ‘Make in India’ programme. The country’s top industrial houses have pledged to invest over Rs.4.5 lakh crore under Digital India. Reminiscing how people were forced to wait for 10 years to get a phone connection during his childhood, Tata said deeper penetration of the phone has empowered the entire population now. The initiative aims to cover 4,500 villages over the next 18 months, starting with Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand and targets to reach out to about five lakh women.

Pune smartest with smartphones

Pune tops the list of smartphone users for managing train travel. The city has been ranked at the number one spot across all major metros in India, according to a survey conducted by RailYatri.in, based on the mobile usage of over one million train travellers on the platform. Despite a much smaller population and a lower train density compared to many larger metros, Pune accounts for one out of every six train travellers who use technology to better manage their train travel. Pune travellers are a highly aware segment and make well-informed choices when it comes to their app selection, according to RailYatri. Com A Pune traveller is 12-times more likely than a Mumbaikar to use mobile apps for managing his/her train journey, eight- times more than a Delhi-traveller, and four-times more than a Kolkata traveller, according to RailYatri.in sources, and in the process has culturally enriched the city known as the cultural capital of Maharashtra. Even today, Pune still holds on to this revered position and is one of the fastest growing cities in the Asia Pacific with a high percentage of educated population.

Anuraag Srivastava, Tata Teleservices Chief Financial officer

Anuraag Srivastava will be the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Tata Teleservices Limited. Anuraag brings with him over 20 years of experience as a finance professional, with the last decade spent in leadership roles in finance in consumer goods and telecom businesses in multiple geographies across India , USA , UK and South Asia. Prior to this, he served Indus Towers as Senior Vice President of Internal Audit and Assurance. Before that, he held significant positions at Future Axiom Telecom Limited and Glaxo Smithkline as well. “I’m excited to be a part of Tata Teleservices that has established itself as a trusted and one of the most relied upon innovative telecom brands in the country and is rapidly scaling its businesses across the markets,” said Anuraag Srivastava, about his new role. “These are exciting times for the telecom industry and Tata Teleservices is at the heart of this evolution. I look forward to working closely with the management team to capitalise on the company’s impending growth opportunities,” he added.

Govind Rajan comes to

Online marketplace Snapdeal.com said that it has hired ex-Bharti Airtel Executive, Govind Rajan, as its Chief Strategy Officer, effective August. Rajan was previously Bharti Airtel Ltd’s chief marketing officer and chief executive officer of Airtel Money. Earlier, he was at Hindustan Unilever Ltd for over 15 years, working across categories. He also led sales teams in several terrains and channels from modern trade to rural. Rajan holds a masters in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras. Snapdeal.com has been overhauling its management team to take on competitors such as Flipkart and Amazon India. The company recently has hired ex-Bharti Airtel executive Anand Chandrasekaran as its new chief product officer and ex-Procter and Gamble executive Amit Choudhary as Sr Vice President of corporate finance.

Premji leads top 10 Indian philanthropists

It’s not just Bill Gates who is donating millions to charity. Top Indian industrialists, CEOs and entrepreneurs too have been donating millions for causes like education, healthcare and rural development. Wipro chairman, Azim Premji, who was the most generous Indian of 2014, according to the Hurun India Philanthropy List, has allocated an additional 18 per cent of the stake he holds in the company for philanthropy, taking his total contribution for charity to more than 50 per cent, according to media reports. “Apart from the Tata Trust, nothing comes close to the commitment made by him on this front,” according to sources, who went on to add that now he has two engines to carry on his philanthropy—the Azim Premji Foundation, and the newly formed Philanthropic Initiatives, formed to make grants to NGOs.

Fourindian-Americans, ‘GreatImmigrants

Four Indian-Americans are among 38 individuals being honoured for having helped advance and enlighten our society, culture, and economy as Great Immigrants: The Pride of America by Carnegie Corporation of New York. As an Independence Day ‘Salute to Great Immigrants Who Help Make America Strong’ and their accomplishments, the corporation for the tenth year took out a full-page public service ad in The New York Times. The four Indian-Americans honoured are, Preet Bharara US Attorney, Southern District of New York, Rakesh Khurana Danoff, Dean of the Harvard College and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership and Development, Madhulika Sikka, Vice President, Executive Editor, Mic (India) and Abraham Verghese, Physician, Professor, Author (India).

Biocon CMD in elite influencer group

The only person from India in the prestigious ranking of global life sciences influencers, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson of Asia’s premier biopharmaceutical enterprise Biocon has received another global recognition. She is featured in The Worldview 100 of the prestigious US-based Scientific American magazine, which has drawn a spotlight on the visionaries who continue to reshape biotechnology—and the world. Kiran is the only person from India on this list. Mazumdar-Shaw appears on the list alongside scientists, business leaders, entrepreneurs, legislators, administrators and key media figures. Scientific American says ,The Worldview 100 list is a “collection of extraordinarily talented and effective people” and describes them as seminal figures who are as complementary to the emergence of the field (of biotechnology) as two parents are to a child. The list was compiled from nominations by dozens of leaders in biotechnology and biosciences globally. The nominators were encouraged to select living experts currently working in the sector from a range of contributing areas, including industry, academia, public policy, finance, law and beyond. The top ten on this exclusive list include Bill and Melinda Gates, Francis Collins, Bob Langer and Craig Venter. The list also includes seven Indian Americans, but Kiran is the only one from India. Sangeeta Bhatia, Atul Butte, Anita Goel, Ganesh Kishore, Raju Kucherlapati, Ram Sasisekharan and Rajiv Shah are the Indian Americans.

Biologist Kamal Bawa elected to Royal Society

India’s most prominent biologist and evolutionary ecologist, Kamal Bawa has been elected to the prestigious Royal Society in recognition of his pioneering contribution in the area of conservation science. Bawa, 76, a distinguished Biology professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, joined former and current fellows like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and about 80 Nobel laureates. Established in 1660, each year the London-based Royal Society’s existing fellowship proposes about 700 candidates for election and then elects up to 52 fellows from England and the Commonwealth countries, and up to 10 foreign fellows. “I am interested in developing new paradigms of conservation that take into account the need to alleviate poverty in biodiversity-rich areas through sustainable use of biodiversity,” said Bawa, who joined the University of Massachusetts 36 years ago, in a university release. “I also remain interested in the sustainable use of ecosystem services including such provisioning services as non-timber forest products. My third distinct interest in sustainable studies is land use and land cover change and its impact on biodiversity,” he said. Bawa is the second University of Massachusetts faculty member to be elected a fellow of the Royal Society after Roger Davis, who teaches in the program in Molecular Medicine.

Khosla to lead Consumer Business

Avantha Group Company CG has appointed Shantanu Khosla as Executive Vice President and Managing Director Designate of the Consumer Business of CG. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, he joined as a Management Trainee in Richardson Hindustan Limited that was rechristened as Procter & Gamble India in 1985. Shantanu has served there ever since, in multiple roles. After several stints abroad in Newcastle UK, Kobe Japan, Singapore and Malaysia he returned to India in 2002 as CEO & MD of Procter & Gamble India. In his 13-year stint, he grew the revenue 15 fold to US$ 1.8 billion making it one of the fastest growing consumer companies in India. He served as the MD of two big legal entities in India - P&G Hygiene and Health Care Limited and Gillette India limited. Shantanu brings with him a rich experience of managing consumer businesses across markets, product categories and functions.

USL Exits United Breweries

Diageo-controlled United Spirits Limited (USL) has exited from United Breweries Ltd. by selling its entire 3.21 per cent stake in the company for Rs.872 crore, giving rise to speculation that Vijay Mallya may lose control over the company that makes the Kingfisher brand of beer. United Spirits sold its stake to Heineken International BV at a price consideration of Rs.1,030 per share, according to United Spirits in a BSE filing. The company has placed an order for sale by way of a block trade on NSE of 85 lakh equity shares held by the company in United Breweries Ltd. (constituting 3.21 per cent stake) to Heineken International BV, according to sources. USL further said, “the sale consideration net of brokerage is Rs.872 crore, resulting in profit on this transaction.” In November 2012, Diageo had bought a controlling 55 per cent stake in USL, for about Rs.11,000 crore, from the Mallya-promoted UB Group. USL said that following the completion of this sale, it will hold no shares in United Breweries and will cease to be a promoter of United Breweries. The sale is part of the process of monetising non-core assets of the company, USL added.