OYO, India’s newest unicorn, appointed former IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh as its Chief Executive Officer for India and South Asia. In a statement the company said that the appointment comes in the wake of its focus to drive accelerated growth in its home markets, India and China. Ghosh joins OYO, the hospitality company following a stint as an advisor to Tata Trusts. In July, he had stepped down from his position as IndiGo’s President and full time Director. He will be reporting to OYO Hotels & Homes Founder & Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal. Commenting on the move, Agarwal said in a statement, “As we grow our business, we feel it is essential to continue to invest in building one of the most influential leadership teams and bringing in professionals with an entrepreneurial mindset and from diverse backgrounds, that can help lead the next wave of growth at Oyo Hotels. With Aditya taking on this mantle for one of our home markets India and the broader South Asia region, we are confident that he will be able to help Oyo Hotels set new benchmarks in the hospitality industry, and nurture a high performing workforce.”
Ashok Chawla has quit from his role as the Non-Executive (Independent) Chairman of Yes Bank, according to bank sources. There have been many reasons for his exit, one could be the likely conflict of interest over his multiple roles. Chawla has been serving as the Chairman of NSE, a quasi-regulator under the SEBI Act, since 2016. He was also the Chairman of Yes Bank, overseeing the leadership transition in the bank. He is also on the board of Jet Airways. In another setback for Yes Bank, audit committee Chairman Vasant Gujarati put in his papers due to personal commitments. Uttam Prakash Agarwal has been appointed in his place as the Additional Director (Independent).
NR Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, has something good to talk about our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He goes on to say that the continuity of the government (BJP) will see good things happening for the country. Many would say that this could be an election stunt, but Murthy has reasons to say so as the present government has less complaints of corruption at the central level. However, regarding Rafale, he is not convinced as there is no data. Murthy did fall back and blame the bureaucracy on GST as they lacked proper execution and implementation. He went on say that the PM cannot be held responsible for execution. According to him the problem lies with the Indian mindset. The need of the hour is a cultural transformation. Commenting on the clash between the government and institutions like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Murthy urged institutions to remain strong.
Infosys appointed its executive Vice President Jayesh Sanghrajka as interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in place of outgoing CFO & MD, Ranganath. In a meeting held by the board of directors it was decided to appoint Sanghrajka as the interim CFO and key managerial personnel of the company. “Sanghrajka has spent 13 years in the company over two stints and performed leadership roles in the finance division and even as Deputy CFO,” according to a statement issued by the IT company. Ranganath’s term ends his 18-year career at India’s second largest software services provider. During his stint, he held several leadership roles in key areas like consulting, finance and strategy. He also worked closely with the board and its committees in formulating and executing strategic priorities for the company.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is likely to hire Ashish Chowdhary, as the India Operations head. The Chief Customer Operations Officer (CCOO) at Nokia Networks, Chowdhary is likely to join Apple early next year. Apple is aiming for a real long-term growth in a price sensitive market. Chowdhary has been with Nokia for 15 years. In a statement Nokia stated that, Chowdhary will continue to lead Customer Operations and remain a member of the Nokia Group Leadership Team until the end of 2018. The key reason for the move by Apple India which is currently under Michel Coulomb who took over from Sanjay Kaul in December last year is to get a bigger slice of a market that has nearly 450 million users and is one of the fastest growing, after China and the US. Chowdhary, who has a sound global as well as local knowledge of the industry, has 25 years of international experience in the enterprise and telecom sectors. With Nokia he was responsible for Nokia Networks’ sales and operations globally. He has held various leadership positions, including Head of Asia, Middle East and Africa and prior to that, Head of Global Services Business Unit.
Ashok Leyland, Hinduja Group’s flagship firm’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Vinod K Dasari bid farewell to the company citing personal reasons and the company board has accepted his resignation. However, the board asked him to continue till the end of March 2019 to facilitate a smooth transition, while elevating Ashok Leyland Chairman, Dheeraj Hinduja as Executive Chairman in view of the resignation of Dasari. The company’s board had reappointed Dasari as Managing Director and CEO in 2016 for a term of five years until March,2021. Addressing the media, Hinduja said, “This (resignation of Dasari) was something unexpected. The board needs time to discuss this (and find a replacement). Vinod has done an excellent job and the team in Ashok Leyland is very strong.” Dasari had been associated with the commercial heavy vehicle maker for over a decade. “When we came to India 17-18 years ago, it was a family decision. To come to Ashok Leyland and not go back to United States was my family decision. Now my family is set by God’s grace and I’d been thinking about it for quite some time (about quitting),” commented Dasari. Talking about Dasari, Hinduja said he was a people’s person. “If he fixes a target, his team will do everything and achieve that. The last five years, he changed the culture in Ashok Leyland.”
The HR Head for India and APAC of Redknee Solutions Manoj Sharma moves to the India operations of NetApp India, the data management company, as Director-Human Resources. In his new role, he will work with leaders in India and across the globe for designing, implementation and evaluation programs meant to not just attract and retain talent but also motivate the best performers. He will also ensure better people practices, talent engagement and talent enablement processes in the company. He will also be responsible for improving the capability, performance, leadership hierarchy and employee engagement so that NetApp witnesses progress, is able to retain its top talent, and further entrench its core values and dynamic culture into the business. At Redknee Solutions, Sharma led the operations across seven countries. With 18 years of experience behind him, Sharma has held senior posts in Broadcom, ST- Ericsson and Samsung Electronics. Welcoming Sharma, Deepak Visweswaraiah, senior vice president and managing director, NetApp India said that the company was eagerly waiting for Sharma’s specialization in employee retention, engagement and career advancement across geographies and markets, to help NetApp generate better and new experiences for its workforce.
Havas Group has promoted Anita Nayyar to CEO of Havas Media Southeast Asia on the back of an accelerated growth strategy in the region. This is in addition to her role as CEO of Havas Media India. Nayyar will report to Vishnu Mohan, Chairman & CEO of Havas Group, India & Southeast Asia, who quoted “I am confident that Anita’s elevation will enhance the value-proposition of our established SEA media operations.” The appointment is effective immediately. Nayyar joined Havas in 2007 as CEO of Havas Media India. Under her leadership Havas Media in India has grown exponentially and expanded its offerings as an integrated communications group encompassing traditional, digital, mobile, performance marketing and out-of-home, among others. Commenting on her promotion, Anita Nayyar said, “The ASEAN markets and the overall SEA region is a pivotal market of the future for brands across a range of verticals and the possibilities are endless. As Havas Group continues to build on its integrated model and new organizational structure, I’m excited to take on the new challenge and reinforce our commitment to creative excellence and smart media accountability to create new opportunities to boost Havas Media SEA’s growth and momentum.
The MD of Bharti Airtel and CEO, Gopal Vittal and Reliance Jio President, Mathew Oommen are among 24 others who have been elected to the board of global telecom industry body GSMA for the 2019-2020 term. Vodafone Group Chief Executive for the Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific Region, Vivek Badrinath too has been elected to the GSMA board. Badrinath is also a non-executive Director on the board of Vodafone Idea Ltd. The GSMA Board has 26 members, including 25 operator representatives from the world’s largest operator groups as well as smaller, independent operators with global representation. All three major private Indian telecom operators are part of the GSMA board. GSMA also announced the election of Stephane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange Group as Chairman, and Chua Sock Koong, Group Chief Executive Officer of Singtel Group as Deputy Chairman. Richard replaces Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, who is currently serving as the Chairman of the GSMA board, and his two-year tenure is coming to an end by this year-end. “Mittal, founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises and current GSMA Chairman, will step down from the board at the end of 2018.Mittal served as a member of the GSMA board from 2005 through 2008 and then again as Chairman from 2016 through 2018,” said GSMA in a statement.
Kanisha Raina joins Fiserv as Director-Human Resources after spending more than five years with IBM. At IBM, the last post she held was that of talent leader, India/South Asia. Fiserv, an American company that has made a name in the financial technology space, caters to over 12,000 clients across the globe and has a staff strength of 24,000 employees. It offers solutions for mobile and online banking, payments, risk management, data analytics and core account processing. Extremely passionate about HR, she is the recipient of the Top HR Leaders 2014 award by People Matters. She is known to be a feminist, an eager learner and a social-media enthusiast. At the IBM, Raina has shouldered the responsibility of being talent partner-research, cloud, commerce, security, analytics and systems, from 2015 to 2016. Among other things, she helped develop the workforce strategy, as well as design and execute programs in alignment with recruitment, learning, professional development and mobility. From 2013 to 2014, she worked as a talent partner for research labs in Africa, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan and Switzerland. For a year before that, she worked as a communication and learning specialist for the global compensation team on ways to enhance and reinvent the team’s culture, such as innovation, client focus and communication. In 2017, she became talent leader-India/South Asia, a position she held for a year and ten months.
The wave of quitting has hit the corporate world in India, as Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan and CFO Dipanjan Basu put in their papers. This comes 24 hours after Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal’s exit. There was a reshuffle in the organization after Bansal’s exit, as the announcement by majority owner Walmart had Narayanan reporting to Flipkart CEO, Kalyan Krishnamurthy. It is believed within the corridors that Narayanan did not share the best of relations with Krishnamurthy. Earlier, Narayanan used to report to Binny Bansal. With this, Krishnamurthy becomes the most powerful executive in the Flipkart group, for whom it is his second innings with the Bengaluru-based retailer. It may be recalled that Narayanan joined Myntra as CEO in July 2015, taking over from Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal who was on his way out from the fashion-focused e-tailer. He came to Myntra from McKinsey & Co. He joined the firm at a time when several executives from consultancy companies were joining Flipkart group companies and other top internet majors. Narayanan at Myntra had tried to scale up the private label business with brands like Roadster and also pushed the company’s foray into offline channel with brick and mortar stores.
by Joe Williams
