The athletes who saved the face of the country with medals at the Rio Olympics were awarded with BMWs. Silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu and bronze winner grappler Sakshi Malik along with gymnast Dipa Karmakar and badminton coach Pullela Gopichand were presented BMW cars by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in Hyderabad, recently. Hyderabad District Badminton Association president Chamundeshwarnath gifted the luxury cars to the four sportspersons for their outstanding achievement in the recently-concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Tendulkar, who was the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian team at the Rio Olympics handed over the keys at a function at the Gopichand Badminton Academy. “This is a wonderful moment for Indian sport. The journey begins here, but I am sure this doesn’t stop here, we all will be joining that journey and are there to support you. You will keep giving us occasions to celebrate,” said Tendulkar. “Gopichand, you have been a wonderful role model, you have gone a notch higher. We all admire you. You are a real hero. We need your guidance in getting more medals. I thank various other coaches also,” the batting maestro said about Gopi who is responsible for giving the sport a new look. The cricketer complimented the players individually, and particularly referred to the performance of Dipa. Though India’s first gymnast at any Olympics could not win a medal, she “won the hearts of the people of the country with her stupendous show”, he said.
Anuradha Rao, deputy managing director at SBI, has been appointed as the MD & CEO of SBI Funds Management. She has taken over from Dinesh Kumar Khara, who has been appointed as MD of State Bank of India (Associates & Subsidiaries). Anuradha Rao was the chief general manager of SBI where she was responsible for the personal banking department. She was promoted to the position of deputy MD of SBI on May 26th this year. She has over three decades of experience in banking and allied sectors. A postgraduate in physics and a CAIIB graduate, Rao joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1982. Since then, she has traversed through various functions and assignments with SBI, including VP (Credit), Chicago, and Faculty for Credit at SBSC Hyderabad. Some of the key assignments handled by her include developing the home loans and real estate businesses at SBI.
Rattan Kapur, chairman and managing director of Mark Exhaust Systems hs become the president of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India(ACMA) for 2016-17. The industry also appointed Nirmal K Minda, chairman and managing director of Minda Industries, as the Vice President of ACMA. “Going forward, the industry will have to focus on innovation and manufacturing excellence, with quality as the bedrock, offering distinct value propositions to rapidly globalising automotive supply chains,” ACMA Director General Vinnie Mehta said. The auto component industry has progressed well in the last decade and is prepared for the next phase of growth, Kapur said. The announcement was made at the 56th ACMA Annual Session during its Executive Committee meeting. “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Rattan Kapur as ACMA President. Kapur brings in a wealth of knowledge with a strong background in the automotive industry,” said Vinnie Mehta. Serving as the vice president of ACMA for the past one year has given me an opportunity to work closely with its members, understand the issues, challenges and roadblocks that the auto components industry has been facing,” said Kapur.
Bala Girisaballa was appointed CEO of Microsoft Accelerator, India as CEO-in-Residence. A former globalisation and market expansion advisory of Zinnov as Partner and Practice Head helping MNC R&D companies, Girisaballa took charge on August 1st . The company also announced that Ravi Narayan, director, will now assume the role of Global Director at Microsoft Accelerator. Girisaballa will lead the Accelerator’s efforts to help market-ready startups and entrepreneurs to scale up and become successful businesses through technology enablement, global go-to-market efforts and deep business advisory in the form of Hi-Po and Scale-Up programme, Microsoft said in a statement. Early last year, Microsoft Accelerator in India redesigned its programme to cater to market-ready startups. Since then, it has graduated three cohorts which include startups like iBot, CustomerXPs, Altizon, CloudCherry and Reverie Technologies, has also formed partnerships with Temasek, TCS, Citi, Reliance Industries and its corporate engagement programme CoInnovate, to help startups in global expansion.
Chairperson and managing director, Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been appointed ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la LAgion d’Honneur’ (Knight of the National Order of the French Legion of Honour) for her outstanding contribution and dedication to Biosciences and Research field globally. The award will be conferred on behalf of the President of the French Republic at a special ceremony later this year, Biocon said in Bengaluru in a statement. “It is an absolute privilege for me to be appointed ‘Chevalier l’Ordre National de la LAgion d’Honneur’ and I am deeply grateful to the French government for this great honour. “I owe this recognition to my wonderful team at Biocon who have joined me in my mission to harness the power of Biotechnology to provide affordable access to life saving bio pharmaceuticals for Cancer and Diabetes,” said Kiran. Chevalier l’Ordre National de la LAgion d’Honneur, created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, is the highest civilian award of the French Republic for outstanding contribution in diverse fields bestowed on citizens of the world. The award is conferred by the President of the French Republic. Other Indians to have received this honour in the past include Yashwant Sinha, Narayana Murthy, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Nandita Das, Shah Rukh Khan, veteran musician Balamuralikrishna and the late actor Sivaji Ganesan, among others.
Tata Group roped in Amit Chandra, managing director of Bain Capital, on the Tata Sons Board as a non-executive director. In a statement, Tata Sons said that Chandra joined Bain Capital as managing director in early 2008 and was part of the firm’s leadership team in Asia.The induction of new directors shows the company’s initiatives to get fresh faces on the board of the $103-billion revenue group’s holding company. The group is facing multiple challenges in terms of Tata Steel’s loss-making European operations and an expensive legal battle with Japanese company NTT Docomo’s exit from Tata Teleservices. Chandra also serves as a Trustee on several Tata Trusts. With Amit Chandra’s appointment, the Tata Sons Board now has nine directors. “Given the rich legacy of the Tata Group in the service of the nation, it’s indeed a privilege to represent the Tata Trusts and serve on the board of Tata Sons,” said Amit Chandra.
The flamboyant and helicopter-style cricketing might have become history for MS Dhoni. So is the liking of corporates, it seems. PepsiCo recently announced that it would be terminating its 11-year association with Indian cricket team skipper Dhoni. PepsiCo has roped in another cricketer, Virat Kohli in its ranks, apart from Bollywood superstars Ranbir Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra as brand ambassadors. The news comes after Dhoni failed to see India over the line in the 1st T20 against the West Indies, and might indicate that Dhoni’s long reign as one of the most wanted faces for advertisers might be coming to an end. He will be replaced by Virat Kohli as the icon for the company. Kohli is at the stage of his career where he is the leading man in India for advertisements and will surely enjoy a long stint at the top. PepsiCo has enjoyed a great association with Indian cricket over the years, and a number of legends including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid have appeared in their ads. Dhoni retired as the captain of Test team at the end of 2014. At that stage, he represented 18 brands. Now, the list is said to be less than ten, and is certainly a less distinguished one. Over the past 18 months, his association with Sony, Dabur, Amrapali and now, Pepsi has come to an end. With the emergence of other young stars like KL Rahul, who might soon work his way into the advertisement space, this might signal the end for Dhoni. Given the fact that India gears up for a long Test season, the wicket keeper-batsman will be seen in action much less and is largely out of the spotlight.
Real estate search portal Housing. com announced the appointment of Vivek Jain as Chief Product and Technology Officer. “As part of his role, he will focus on strengthening the product and engineering aspects of the business to help steer Housing.com towards its goal of becoming a full-service transaction player,” the company said in a release. Vivek has over 14 years of experience in the technology and digital domains in India and the US. At Amazon, Vivek was the Bandwidth Product/Business Head for the Cloud division (Amazon Web Services) where he helped define the value proposition, differentiation strategy and pricing, the company’s release said. Vivek returned to India in 2014 to join Jio (subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited) as Vice President where he was part of the chairman’s leadership team and was charged with building the company’s digital media business and the core leadership team. Jason Kothari, Chief Executive Officer, Housing. com while commenting on Jain’s appointment said, “Vivek comes with best-in-class product and technology leadership experience, global exposure and an entrepreneurial mindset, which is a unique mix, and one that blends seamlessly with the thinking and culture at Housing.com. I believe Vivek’s addition to our senior team will greatly benefit us in realising our vision for the company.”
The Dalian Wanda Group, the largest Chinese cinema exhibitor in Asia, is eyeing multiplex owners from India to enter the Indian market. Owned by Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man, the efforts seem to have borne fruit after nine long months. Looks like, it will clinch the deal with PVR Cinemas, if reports are to be believed. If this association materialises, then, the Dalian Wanda Group will be the second largest global cinema exhibitor, after Mexico’s Cinepolis de Mexico SA, to enter the India’n market.“Dalian Wanda Group has held talks with large multiplex owners in India, including the listed ones such as PVR Ltd and Carnival Cinemas Ltd, and they are keen to establish their presence in the Indian market,” said one of the reliable sources to a leading daily newspaper. Shrikant Bhasi, founder and chairman of the Carnival Group, confirmed that they too had received an offer from Wanda Group. However, the clincher is likely to be Ajay Bili, Founder of PVR.
Bharat Dhuppar was appointed CEO of Nusli Wadia-led Wadia Group for its real estate company, Bombay Realty. The CEO of Sheth Creators, a Mumbai-based real estate company, Bharat Dhuppar will head Bombay Realty, where Jeh Wadia, the younger son of Nusli Wadia and the managing director of the Group’s flagship Bombay Dyeing, is in charge of the Group’s realty business. Jeh Wadia has streamlined the business in the past couple of years. Now he wants to delegate the operations to a professional, according to sources in the Group, adding that the company was looking to launch a few more projects in Mumbai in the coming months. It has been five years since Bombay Dyeing started focusing on real estate, developing huge projects in central Mumbai. After the Group’s aviation company GoAir was set up in 2005, Jeh Wadia was made in charge of the property business in 2010, but Chairman Nusli Wadia was also actively involved in the business. Bombay Realty is currently developing two large projects, a 29-acre luxury residential project called ‘Island City Center’ in Dadar area and a 25-acre-mixed use project Wadia International Centre, which has the head offices of Bombay Dyeing and Axis Bank. Bombay Realty is also looking to develop a five-star hotel, a hospital, and a luxury shopping destination under the name ‘The Plaza’. Real estate is the second-biggest revenue segment for Bombay Dyeing, the Group’s flagship company, and the most profitable compared to the other two divisions. The real estate vertical posted a profit of Rs.277.2 crore on total revenues of Rs.470.2 crore in FY16. Bombay Dyeing had invested Rs.2,957 crore in the real estate business in FY16.
SN Subrahmanyan, became whole time director, deputy managing director and president, Larsen & Toubro. In addition, the 55-yearold Subrahmanyan will head L&T Construction (erstwhile ECC) as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of L&T Infotech Limited and President – L&T Infotech and President – L&T Technology Services. He is also responsible for the Metallurgical & Material Handling (MMH) and Shipbuilding business verticals. With a degree in civil engineering and a post-graduate qualification in business management, Subrahmanyan commenced his professional career with L&T in 1984 as a project planning engineer and soon made a name by successfully setting up the Ready Mix Concrete business for the first time in India. Apart from completing several challenging infrastructure projects across verticals over the years, he has played a crucial role in securing and managing EPC contracts for the construction of four major international airports in India at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai. Among his list of accomplishments are the mandates to build the tallest statue in the world – the Statue of Unity - and the development of dedicated freight corridors that will realign the dynamics of freight movement in the country. The construction division is among the top 30 global contractors and by far the largest construction organisation in the country.
Soon after the government has cleared the Bill in Rajya Sabha, for six months’ maternity leave for employees across private and public organisations, several corporates are already taking the lead in implement it. Jabong, the fashion e-firm, was quick to announce the benefit. Deepa Chadha, Chief Human Resource manager said to the media that, “women represent 30 percent of Jabong’s workforce and 60 percent of our revenue. Making the work culture more inclusive is an economic imperative for our success.’’ This Bill also provides the provision to “work from home’’ for nursing mothers as well as 12 weeks for mothers of surrogate babies. This Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill will be tabled in the Lok Sabha in the Winter Session. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha, went a step further. She has announced nine-month maternity leave for women government employees of her state.
By Joe Williams
