IT major Infosys has appointed Bharti Airtel’s global CFO, Nilanjan Roy as Chief Financial Officer, with effective from March 1, 2019, Infosys said in a regulatory filing. Roy replaces interim CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka, who will resume his responsibilities as Deputy CFO. Sanghrajka had taken temporary charge of the position after M.D. Ranganath abruptly resigned as the company’s CFO in August 2018. Roy, who will become the first outsider to hold the post of Infosys CFO, joins the IT company from Airtel where he was for 13 years. He was appointed Airtel’s global CFO in August 2015, prior to which he served as CFO for the telecom firm’s India and South Asia business. Before Airtel, he was with Unilever Plc for 15 years. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh said in the regulatory filing, “We are delighted to announce that Nilanjan will join Infosys as our CFO. He comes to us with extensive and rich global experience. We would like to express our deep appreciation to Jayesh Sanghrajka for taking charge as interim CFO and thank him for ably executing this very important responsibility.” A B.Com graduate from Delhi University and a chartered accountant, Roy is the third Infosys CFO in three years, following Rajiv Bansal’s exit in 2015 over the Panaya acquisition issue, and then Ranganath’s exit.
Netflix India’s director of international originals and acquisitions, Swati Shetty, stepped down from her role at the company. Shetty, one of Netflix’s earliest hires in India, joined the streaming service in 2016 soon after it launched in India and was based in Los Angeles with frequent trips to Mumbai where Netflix opened its office last year. During her tenure, Netflix expanded its slate of original films including titles like Love Per Square Foot, Lust Stories and more recently Rajma Chawal. With Netflix increasing its emphasis on the India market, Shetty’s position needed to be filled out of Mumbai while Shetty wished to remain in Los Angeles. A replacement has not yet been announced. Prior to joining Netflix, Shetty worked at Balaji Telefilms, Walt Disney India and Fox’s Star India network. Netflix has aggressively targeted India for growth as it battles rivals Amazon, Star India’s Hotstar, Viacom India’s Voot, Sony Television’s SonyLIV and a host of other OTT players.
The Walt Disney Company announced the appointment of Uday Shankar, as Chairman, Star and Disney India, and President, The Walt Disney Co. Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of Disney’s integration planning for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox and strategic alignment of its consolidated international business units. Shankar currently serves as President, 21st Century Fox, Asia, and Chairman and CEO of Star India. “The planned restructuring of our business units outside of the US will result in a stronger, more agile organization, one that is better able to pivot and capitalize on the many opportunities present in today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace,” said Kevin Mayer, Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and International, at The Walt Disney Company. In his new role, Shankar will report to Mayer, while Luke Kang, EVP and MD, Greater China, Japan and Korea; Kylie Watson- Wheeler, MD of Australia and New Zealand; and Chafic Najia, SVP and MD of Middle East will report to Shankar.
Two months ahead of his retirement, Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha was appointed the new Finance Secretary. Jha, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, succeeds Hasmukh Adhia who retired on November 30, 2018. The senior most secretary in the Finance Ministry is normally designated as the Finance Secretary. His appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After Jha retires on 31 January, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, a 1983-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, who will become the senior most secretary in the ministry is likely to take charge as the finance secretary. The other two secretaries in the finance ministry are financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar, a 1984-batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer and DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) Secretary, Atanu Chakraborty, a 1985-batch Gujarat-cadre IAS officer.
Announcing changes in its management, Walmart India has appointed Sameer Aggarwal as its Chief Business Officer with immediate effect and Anuj Singh as Head - Category Merchandising. In his new role, Aggarwal will now be responsible for leading the strategy, merchandising, cost analytics, ecommerce, technology, marketing and replenishment. Aggarwal, currently, Chief Strategy & Administrative Officer, will continue to report directly to Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India. Prior to joining Walmart India in April 2018, Aggarwal Worked with KFC, Thailand, Sainsbury’s in the UK and China and McKinsey & Co, the UK and Australia. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the London Business School and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Anuj Singh will report to Aggarwal. Anuj comes with 23 years of experience in leading consumer goods organizations across India, Europe & Middle East. Anuj holds Masters Degree in Business Administration from London Business School. Meanwhile, Devendra Chawla, EVP & Chief Operating Officer - Merchandising, Marketing, and ecommerce, has decided to move on to pursue other opportunities outside Walmart India. Announcing the changes, Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India said, “I am extremely pleased to announce Sameer Aggarwal as our Chief Business Officer. Sam joined Walmart India in April this year and within a short period of time he has developed a great understanding of our company and our culture. I have no doubt he will lead and support his teams to strive for excellence in everything we do. I am very happy to welcome Anuj Singh into the Walmart India family. Backed with rich experience of 23 years in India and international markets, I am confident he would lead the business to achieve more success.”
Vedanta has appointed Madhu Srivastava as the Group CHRO. In her previous role, Srivastava was the CHRO for Cairn Oil & Gas business of Vedanta for more than two years. In addition to the Cairn CHRO role, Srivastava has also led Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion for the Vedanta group. Srivastava has been part of the Vedanta Group for six years now. She joined Vedanta in 2012 as the Head for Talent Acquisition for their Oil & Gas business. Srivastava brings 19 years of rich and diverse experience across human resources, sales and operations spanning across industries like FMCG, telecom, ITES, BFSI and natural resources. An alumna of IIM Ahmedabad, she started her professional journey in 1999 as an Assistant Sales Manager in Godrej where she handled sales in Gujarat and Maharashtra and later moved on to the corporate sales & marketing role. She then worked with companies like GE Capital and Reliance Communications before switching her role from sales and marketing to human resources. Srivastava started her HR journey in 2006 by joining Genpact as an Assistant Vice President talent acquisition where she was heading the middle management hiring for Genpact. She was then with Citibank for two years heading recruitments for India.
German quality tools manufacturer Hoffmann Group announced the appointment of Manav Goel as the Director of the company’s Indian arm. Goel will be responsible for overlooking the sales team and driving strategic business partnerships for their market in India. A civil engineer and an IIM Calcutta graduate, Manav has more than 21 years of experience in strategic planning, people management, and systems development. He has been part of the Asia Management Team and board of directors for Halfen Moment Group, a CRH member and Fortune 500 company. He was also Business Head - India with Tyrolit India Super abrasives Tools, part of the world-renowned SWAROVSKI group. Manav has also had successful stints with Minean Habitat and Hilti where he was part of the leadership team. Speaking on the new appointment, Dr. Christian Kober, Senior Vice President - Asia, said, “We are delighted to welcome Manav as a valuable new member to our management team. His diverse background and extensive experience will bring in a fresh perspective and further bolster our expansion efforts in India. We believe Manav will add immense value to Hoffmann Group and help further strengthen our brand presence in the Indian market.”
Anil Ambani owned Reliance Entertainment’s Big Synergy Media Limited has appointed Rajiv Bakshi as its Chief Executive Officer. Here, Bakshi will take forward the mantle of enhancing multi-platform reach, driving strategic partnerships and developing the original content portfolio. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Bakshi comes with over two decades of experience and a proven track record across TV, internet, media, telecom and consumer durable industries. He has deep understanding of broadcast media & OTT, digital, mobile and FMCG industries. Previously, Rajiv was with Intex Technologies where he was the Chief Marketing Officer and led the brand strategy across four business verticals–smartphones, electronics, durables and accessories. Prior to Intext, Rajiv was VP & Head Products & Marketing, India & South Asia at Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific. Speaking about his new role, Bakshi says, “I am incredibly excited to join Big Synergy at this stage of the company’s evolution into scripted shows, along with the non-scripted content. Content will fuel the next wave of growth in media. India is one of the rare markets where both television broadcast and OTT platforms continue to demonstrate robust growth. I am passionate about transformative disruptions that change consumer behavior and will strive to create competitive advantage and long term value for the business and our esteemed clients.” On the development, Shibasish Sarkar, Group COO, Reliance Entertainment, said, “We are happy to have Rajiv on board. He comes with a wealth of experience and domain expertise. With his extensive knowledge across the television and digital medium, we are confident that he will be able to further accelerate the growth of the entertainment sector within the group.”
India’s online travel company, Yatra announced the appointment of Neelam Dhawan, as an independent director to its board of directors effective January 1, 2019. Neelam has been lauded by leading business journals like Fortune, Forbes and Business Today as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business and has played an integral role in shaping the IT Industry in India. “We are very pleased to have Neelam join our board and look forward to her contributions.” said Dhruv Shringi, CEO and Co-Founder, Yatra.com. “With 35 plus years of experience, Neelam is an accomplished leader in the tech industry and brings with her a unique blend of experience of scaling up enterprise technology businesses in emerging markets, experience which is a perfect match for Yatra as we look at scaling up our corporate travel business and expanding it beyond India". In her previous positions, Dhawan has headed both Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, in India, been a member of NASSCOM’s Executive Council from 2009 to 2017 and made significant contributions to industry strategy and public policy frameworks. “I am excited to participate in shaping the future of Yatra as we move to be closer to our customers and focus on delivering delightful experiences for them with our services.” said Dhawan.
Microsoft-owned professional networking platform, LinkedIn announced the appointment of Mahesh Narayanan as Country Manager for India, effective January 7, 2019. Narayanan will assume his new responsibilities from January 7, 2019, said LinkedIn, which has over 59 crore members globally and more than 5.3 crore members in India. He brings more than two decades of experience in building and growing digital businesses in South Asia. He has previously spearheaded the digital transformation and market-entry strategies for digital businesses including leading music and audio streaming service Saavn, global leader in programmatic digital advertising solutions, Sociomantic Labs, and mobile advertising company, AdMob. He also led Google India’s mobile advertising business from 2010-2013. Narayanan will report to Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn’s Managing Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and will join the company’s Asia Pacific senior management team. “India continues to be a strategic market for LinkedIn, and we are pleased to have Mahesh join our team to take our business to its next growth chapter. As we continue to invest in the market, Mahesh’s strong track record in leading growth businesses and his deep market experience will bolster our efforts in India,” said Olivier Legrand, Managing Director - Asia Pacific, LinkedIn. As LinkedIn’s fastest-growing and largest market outside the US, India has seen its member base grow from 34 lakh members in November 2009 to more than 5.3 crore members in July 2018.” I am grateful for the opportunity to further LinkedIn’s vision and mission in an important market that is rapidly digitizing,” Narayanan said on his appointment.
Intensifying its strategic focus on India, Blue Prism, provider of the world’s most successful Digital Workforce, announced the appointment of Peter Gartenberg, Managing Director and President, Indian subcontinent. This senior level appointment reflects India’s emerging importance as an innovation hub and the exponential market demand for Blue Prism’s Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform in India. Since commencing operations in India in 2017, Blue Prism’s RPA platform has seen strong momentum with many multinational Global In-house Centers (GICs), Indian enterprises and India based Global System Integrators (SI). “India is emerging as a global knowledge and talent Centers for Blue Prism’s intelligent RPA offering and we are delighted to have a proven leader in Peter to accelerate our growth in India. He will be responsible for extending our leadership position amongst India based GICs, Indian enterprises and the Indian Global SI ecosystem,” said Mike Cawsey, SVP and General Manager, Asia Pacific. “In this next phase, Peter and his growing India team will educate the market about Blue Prism’s Intelligent Automation capabilities and how to best leverage this technology into customers’ and partners’ digital transformation strategies.”
by Joe Williams
