In what could be a big setback for Vishal Sikka, the Chief Executive Officer of the Infosys Ltd Americas, Sandeep Dadlani has put in his papers. Dadlani, who was also the global head of its manufacturing, consum- er packaging and goods and retail units was recently entrusted with the additional responsibility of generating more business from the company’s new software solutions, including the artificial intelligence platform, Nia. One of four presidents at Infosys, he was overseeing business. He was also the Chairman of Edgeverve, a subsidiary of Infosys. The reason behind his departure was not clear. Reacting to the move, Sikka stated that Dadlani was a key player behind the success of Infosys. Meanwhile, the company announced the appointment of Karmesh Vaswani as head of retail, consumer packaging and goods and logistics, and Nitesh Banga as the head of manufacturing. Dadlani started his innings with Infosys in 2001 and was the front-runner for the top job in 2014, when the company scouted for a Chief Executive Officer, before eventually deciding to hire former SAP SE board member Sikka. His premature departure could be a blow to Sikka, who is battling against time to put Infosys back on the growth pedestal, as an embattled board and management face questions on poor corporate governance from some of the company’s founders led by N R Narayana Murthy, according to pundits in the corporate world. Many were of the opinion that Dadlani’s departure will make it tough for the new heads as they will have to again build relationships afresh, which can probably impact business in the retail and manufacturing industry. It has come at a time when many bigwigs in the company have ended their stint with the company. Dadlani joined Virginia-based confectionery and pet food company Mars as its Chief Digital Officer. He succeeds Vittorio Cretella, who retires on September 1.
Girish Wagh, known as the brain behind Tata Indica, Tata Nano and Tata Ace, has been made head of Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle business. Wagh, currently head of product line (medium and heavy commercial vehicles) takes over this responsibility from Ravindra Pisharody, who quit as Executive Director of the commercial vehicles business. Wagh, a Mechanical Engineer from the Maharashtra Institute of Technology and a post-graduate in manufacturing from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, joined Tata Motors straight from the campus in 1992 and has been an old war horse of the compa- ny. This move reflects the management style of Guenter Butschek, as Wagh has a great following within and outside the company.
Come September there will be a change in the India’s biggest oil and gas producer, ONGC. Shashi Shanker, will take over from Dinesh K Sarraf, who retires as the Chairman and Managing Director. Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) selected Shanker, who is currently Director (Technical and Field Services), ONGC. Nine candidates including Oil India Director (HR) Biswajit Roy and ONGC Videsh Ltd Director (Finance) Vivekanand were eyeing the post, but PESB opted for Shanker. His name will now be vetted by the administrative ministry-the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas after obtaining clearance from anti-corruption watchdog CVC and CBI through the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Shanker, 56, will have a nearly four-year term till March 2021. He has been responsible for ensuring latest technical and field services for state-run ONGC
Susan Podlogar has become the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of MetLife Inc. Susan, who joined the New York based company, will be a member of the company’s Executive Group and report to the Chairman, President and CEO Steven A Kandarian. Susan joins the Metlife family after serving Johnson & Johnson, where she was Global Vice President of Human Resources for the company’s $21 billion medical devices business. Her role will be to drive the talent agenda to strengthen the company’s go-to-market model and help accelerate the pace of innovation. As Vice President for global total rewards and performance, she has been responsible for managing the development and execution of worldwide compensation, benefits, health resources, performance strategies and organisational analytics. She has been with J&J from the year 2003. She has also been with Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Bristol Myers Squibb. She began her career in the corporate world in 1987 as a consultant with William M Mercer, a global human resource consulting firm. A graduate in labour relations and management from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, she went on to complete her MBA in Finance and Management from the University of South Florida.
Saurabh Nigam, who bid goodbye to e-commerce firm Snapdeal has joined non-profit investment firm Omidyar Network as Vice President, Human Capital. In his new avatar, Nigam will be responsible for supporting Omidyar Network’s portfolio companies in India with respect to people practices of this Bengaluru based firm. Nigam played a significant role in a massive ramp up of the organisation from a little less than 1000 people to almost 7000 in less than a year from 2014 to 2015 at Snapdeal. He has extensive experience in a full spectrum of business operations in diverse industries including high-tech, legal, and startups. A Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications from The Army Institute of Technology, Pune, Nigam also holds a post graduate diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PM&IR) from XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, India. He also holds the SPHR, GPHR and HRMP from SHRM, USA-being the only Indian, and one among the first ten people globally, to hold these three certifications simultaneously. He will report to Roopa Kudva, partner at Omidyar Network and Managing Director of Omidyar Network India Advisors.
Former National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) CHRO, Chandrashekhar Mukherjee has joined Srei Infrastructure Finance as the group’s Chief People Officer. Mukherjee will be handling the entire people function for the firm’s group companies including all 140 entities, which have over 9,000 employees. Before his stint with NSE, he was Vice President, HR, and Branch Head, Mumbai at Bennett Coleman & Company. He has also worked with Cabot India, Colgate-Palmolive India and Usha India in the past. A Commerce graduate from the University of Allahabad, Mukherjee pursued his post graduation in human resources from the Institute of Engineering & Rural Technology.
Priyanka Chopra, better known as the PC or PeeCee in the Bollywood, after being touted as one of the sexiest Asian women around the world, and the most popular ‘brown’ face in the West, is now more popular than her ‘Baywatch’ co-star Dwayne Johnson and even ‘Wonder Woman’ Gal Gadot on social media. This desi girl is number one on the Top Actors chart, a ranking of the most popular actors on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Google Plus. Social media analytics company MVPindex shared the global data based on the engagement of celebrities and addition of followers on their online accounts. After Priyanka, it’s her ‘Baywatch’ co-star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, while actor-comedian Kevin Hart is third on the list, and Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and Cara Delevingne at number four and five, respectively. Other celebrities who came in the top 10 list comprised of Vin Diesel, Jennifer Lopez, Ashley Benson, Zac Efron and Shay Mitchel.
Shinjini Kumar makes up for the vacuum created by Kartik Kaushik of the Citi, as she takes on the role of head of its consumer banking business in India. Kaushik has moved to a global consumer banking role in the US. Kumar had joined Citi India from Paytm, where she served as CEO. She was respon- sible for spearheading the Paytm payments bank, which included regulatory approvals, technology integration, business development and building a strong team. She, however, quit the payments bank just before the launch, as living in Mumbai and working in Delhi did not work out for her. In her new role, Shinjini will manage all of Citi’s consumer businesses including retail banking, wealth management, cards and mortgages in India. She will also join the Asia consumer leadership team and report to Anand Selvakesari, Asia head of consumer banking, and Pramit Jhaveri, CEO, Citi India. Before this move and Paytm, she spent over five years with PwC, where she was leading the banking and capital markets practice. She had also worked with other multinational banks earlier. Before moving to banking, she has had 17 years stint with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) where she handled foreign direct investments, technology transfer, external borrowings and conducted onsite and offsite supervision of banks and NBFCs.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) appointed R K Sharma, their General Manager, as the Administrator to manage Sahara India Life Insurance Company. This move was taken, as it was felt that the Subrata Roy-run insurer was acting in a manner prejudicial to the interest of subscribers. In a statement issued by the Chairman T S Vijayan, it was stated that the Administrator would act as per the powers and duties under the applicable provisions and manage the business with the greatest economy compatible with efficiency and regularly report to him. He went on to add that he expected the directors, management, and staff of the insurer to extend all possible assistance and cooperation to the administrator to manage the affairs of Sahara Life Insurance Company.
It has been a smooth drive for the BMW, the Indian unit of German luxury carmaker in the last few years, and to make the most of it while on the rise are set to invest ` 130 crore this year with over four new generation 5-Series sedan. This four-year investment plan will see them extend their say in its dealership network to recover ground over their rivals. The company is getting ready to pursue sustainable growth and profitability gained in the last three years. The first ones to make entry into the country, BMW’s venture with Audi in the year has not been up to what they excepted. Since 2015, Mercedes has been leading the segment. However, this new model, such as the new 5-Series and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), is set to make a strong comeback in a segment that accounts for less than 2% of India’s passenger vehicle market. The period from 2007 and 2009 was about building a strong foundation to secure its future in India. From 2010 to 2012, it focused on growth and achieving leadership in the luxury car segment and from 2013 till 2016, it consolidated its position with a clear vision of sustainable growth and profitability. In all, the com- pany has over 60 touch points which include 40-odd sales outlets. They however are in the look out to in-crease these numbers during this year. After this new generation 5-Series, which went on sale, the company plans to bring 6-Series Gran Turismo (GT) in 2018. Sales of luxury cars—those priced between RS. 25 lakh to RS. 2 crore fell 4.24% to 33,279 units in 2016, the first fall in four years, as per IHS Markit. With the GST, premium car models are the biggest gainers in the automobile sector. And with this investment, BMW will enhance operations, taking its total investment in the country to RS. 1,250 crore.
The buzz about a change in the top deck of Tata Motors has been doing the rounds, with Ravindra Pisharody, Executive Director (Commercial Vehicles) of Tata Motors being the first one to quit the Tata group company. His move comes three-and-half years ahead of the scheduled end of his term, which was up to 2020. In a release, Tata Motors said that Pisharody, 62,has resigned from the company as well as from its associated entities for personal reasons. The Nano and Tiago car maker has now elevated company veteran Satish Borwankar, 65, to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). This is the first time Tata Motors has created the post of COO. Borwankar is currently Executive Director (Quality) and his term was to end this July in line with the retirement policies for Executive Directors. Tata Motors has given him a two-year extension, subject to shareholders’ approval.
In what could be termed as a first, shareholder activist Anil Singhvi has been appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of telecom products firm Subex and entrusted with the task of resurrecting the company’s fortunes. An independent director of the Bengaluru-based firm, Singhvi has recast its capital structure, tightened governance and cleaned up the balance sheet, stripping down stressed assets. Subex had accumulated huge debt, partly because of the decision to buy Canadian telecom firm Syndesis for $170 million through issue of bonds. As of 2016-17, Subex had $115 million in debt out of which $95 million was equitised and the remaining $20 million has been paid off. “The worst is behind us. We have recapitalised the firm and prepared the company for growth,” said Singhvi, who is also the Chairman of Ican Investments Advisors and was an adviser to Reliance ADA Group for two years. According to Subex CEO, Surjeet Singh, the company worked with regulators to clean up debt over the past four years. He further added that this being a promoter-less firm, its independent directors were the livewires and have played an important role in recapitalising and restructuring the business.
By Joe Williams
