Srikantan Moorthy aka Tan, the former global head of HR at Infosys, is moving back to the function after three years, as he is shifting his base to the US as head of talent acquisition. Infosys plans to beef up its hiring in the US and Tan has been entrusted with this responsibility. In 2015, Tan had moved out of human resources as executive vice-president and global services head - application development & maintenance, independent validations & business intelligence. Tan has a vast experience of over 27 years, out of which 18 were with Infosys in various capacities. He has served as the global HR head at Infosys between 2013 and 2015. He was also senior vice-president and head of education & research (E&R) at Infosys, where his primary responsibility was talent development through competency building. Over 15,000 fresh engineers go through this programme every year. The certification programme of E&R is aimed at renewal of competencies of experienced professionals in the organisation. He was also head of education at Infosys BPO. Tan has worked with Inventa Corporation before Infosys, where he joined as a principal software engineer in 1991, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Bangalore University. He worked with Inventa for nine years and was based out of the US.
Subhash Chandra Khuntia takes over as the new chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) approved him to the post of chairperson of the insurance regulator for a period of three years. The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, Khuntia, who served as the Chief Secretary to the state government, takes charge after the retirement of T. S. Vijayan. The Chairperson, IRDAI is entitled to a consolidated salary of Rs.4.5 lakh per month, without facility of house and car. A native of Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, Khuntia was among the eight persons who were shortlisted for the post, including the heads of public sector insurance companies and members of the insurance regulator.
The founder, Managing Director & CEO of Bandhan Bank Limited, Chandra Sekhar Ghosh, took over as the Deputy Chairman of CII Eastern Region (ER) for the year 2018-19. This was announced at the CII Eastern Regional Council Meeting held recently. Ghosh has chaired CII Economic Affairs, Finance & Taxation Committee, sits on several committees, including the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), MSME Sector Committee, Government of West Bengal, UK-India Financial Partnership (UIFP) Committee, among others. He was elected Senior Ashoka Fellow in 2007 by the Ashoka Foundation (social entrepreneurship award) and is the recipient of the Forbes India Leadership Award in the category ‘Entrepreneur with Social Impact’ besides the Microfinance India Award in the category ‘Lifetime contribution to the sector by an individual’. He has also received ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award in the Financial Services category by Ernst & Young.
All is not well for the partnership of Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal as the former (Sachin Bansal) quit the company board as Walmart, the world’s largest retail chain, enters into a deal to pick up a majority stake in India’s most valued internet company. It is given to understand that Sachin Bansal will sell his entire 5.5% stake in the company he co-founded to Walmart, as he departs from the country’s most valuable internet firm, three people close to the matter said. Sachin and Binny, a batch apart in IIT-Delhi, became friends as colleagues in Amazon before starting Flipkart in Bengaluru as an online bookstore back in 2007 before going on to become the country’s pre-eminent e-commerce company. Flipkart was set up in an apartment at Bengaluru. Till 2016, Sachin was the CEO of the company until Binny Bansal took over the charge from being the former COO of the logistic function. Sachin was later on elevated as the executive chairman in January 2016. Walmart is said to be keen on retaining only one of the two founders. Sachin exits while Binny stays with Walmart while it is holding on to Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the web retailer’s present CEO.
(L-R) Shobhit Agarwal and Anuj PuriAnuj Puri, Chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants and Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO, ANB Capital Advisors announced the formal merger of ANB Capital with the ANAROCK Group to create ANAROCK Capital, which Shobhit Agarwal will head as MD & CEO. The ANAROCK Group’s residential services division has already defined itself as India’s leading, fastest-growing and most disruptive consultancy in the industry. With the addition of the capital markets vertical, ANAROCK takes a major step forward towards its ambitious expansion plans, according to a release issued after the merger. “The Indian real estate market is in its next evolutionary stage, and perfectly primed for ANAROCK Capital,” said Anuj Puri. “The firm will fill the massive real estate investment banking advisory gap that exists in a market completely redefined by RERA in terms of how the market operates and who will operate it going forward. Among several other functions, ANAROCK Capital will advise on big-ticket funding, acquisition and consolidation mandates. Shobhit’s vast experience and deep-rooted industry relationships will come into play with immediate effect. I take particular pride in announcing the second merger of equals in my professional life—and more are to follow.” Shobhit Agarwal has been a prominent dealmaker in the Indian real estate capital market for over two decades and looks forward to taking the massive stakes involved to the next level. “Our capital markets team consists of well-honed industry experts who are adept at handling multimillion-dollar capital mandates,” says Agarwal, who has already traded capital in excess of US$ 10 billion in his previous assignments. “Leveraging the ANAROCK Group’s tremendous market penetration and superb operational infrastructure with ten operational offices in India and one in Dubai, ANAROCK Capital will lead the real estate investment banking business from the front. There is over US$ 150 billion of capital to be traded in the Indian real estate over the next five years —and with our collective expertise, existing exposure and resources, we are perfectly poised to capture a major share of it,” he said.
The Director for Standards at the Samsung Research Institute in Bengaluru, Suresh Chitturi, was elected as new Chairman of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Service and System Aspect 6 (SA6) Working Group by acclamation in Sophia Antipolis, France. The 3GPP is a collaborative project aimed at developing global standards for acceptable specifications of telecommunication networks. The project comprises of three Technical Specification Groups (TSGs), under which 16 Working Groups oversee specifications for each sector. He will lead the SA6 working group for two years. The SA6 is a key working group responsible for the development of application layer standards. Since its inception in 2014, SA6 has played a significant role in the development of Mission Critical Applications Standards across Long-Term Evolution (LTE), a global standard widely adopted by public safety agencies and other critical communication industry verticals. The Standards enable the use of push-to-talk voice, video and data communications for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) operations over broadband networks. “Providing leadership to 3GPP SA6 Working Group, especially in this era of new mobile communications, is a unique opportunity. We at Samsung value the importance of the activity of 3GPP and SA6 in creating a robust platform for future 5G services, leading up to the era of 5G commercialisation,” said Chitturi.
Deepika Rao has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Roots Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), a leading hospitality company in South Asia, that owns and manages the Ginger brand of hotels. “Further to our commitment to recognising talent from within the organisation and bringing in gender balance, we are delighted to welcome Deepika on board as the first woman to lead an IHCL company. We believe Deepika is best suited to take brand Ginger to the next level,” said Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO, IHCL and Chairman of Roots Corporation. Commenting on the move Deepika said, “I am privileged to have been given this opportunity to work with a dynamic brand like Ginger. I look forward to working with the team in achieving its growth objectives and continuing to add value to all our stakeholders.” A Tata Administrative Services (TAS) leadership programme holder, Deepika started her career with Tata Motors in 2000. She has had several stints across functions in various Tata Group companies for the last 18 years. She will move to her current role from her previous position as Vice President, Asset Management at IHCL, where she was responsible for leading solutions for margin enhancement at the company. She has also served as interim CEO for Roots Corporation Ltd. in 2015 for a short period. During her professional journey, Deepika has been instrumental in leading significant initiatives in different companies.
Tata Motors and Symbiosis International (Deemed University) have launched a two-year management programme for its employees and the first batch of managers from various functions will undergo this comprehensive general management programme covering operations, finance, people management, supply chain and marketing among other subjects. This will enhance managerial skills at multiple levels in the organisation. Tata Motors partnership with Symbiosis will help provide avenues for collaborative research, content development and knowledge exchange between industry and academia. Aligned with the company’s strategic objective, the programme aims to develop talent and nurture the managerial skills of budding engineers and other professionals at Tata Motors. This programme comprises four semesters spread over a period of 24 months, where the programme pedagogy involves concepts learnt in the classroom and applied on a real-time project in diverse functional areas, across Tata Motors. Apart from honing their capabilities, this programme will go a long way in addressing the aspirations of these engineers to complete management education from a top-ranked institution. “Today, the business landscape has become very dynamic and there is an increasing influence of disruptive technologies and social media in shaping our lives. Hence, it is important for us to prepare a future-ready workforce that is world-class, strategic yet adaptive, has razor-sharp business sense and the innovativeness to lead the vibrant ecosystem in the marketplace,” said Gajendra Chandel, chief human resources officer, Tata Motors. He went on to add, “This partnership with Symbiosis International is a win-win opportunity that will help us push the boundaries of learning for our managers and help create a repository of case studies and related teaching capabilities. The combined force of industry and academia working together is a powerful engine for innovation and value creation, leading to higher economic growth. We are simultaneously gearing up to roll out more such collaborative tie-ups with academia to develop industry-ready resources.”
Initiative Media, the media agency owned by IPG Mediabrands has elevated Vaishali Verma to chief executive officer. Vaishali who has been with the Group for over a decade will oversee the India operations and report to Shashi Sinha, chief executive, IPG Mediabrands India. She has been associated with them serving as Initiative Media’s chief operating officer since 2014. In the previous role, she was overseeing the agency’s entire business in southern India with accounts like Amazon Seller Service, MRF Tyres and innerwear brand, Jockey, leading a team of over 100 people. Reacting to the move, Sinha in a statement stated, “What makes this truly special is that Vaishali is an insider and has grown from strength to strength in the Group. I am hugely proud to have such superlative talent from within steering the ship. She embodies IPG’s culture and values and is an inspiring leader. I couldn’t have found a better person to lead Initiative Media.” With loads of experience in the area of media, advertising and marketing, Verma has been a strong force in helping brands connect better with consumers. A MICA alumnus, she started her career in advertising as a media planner with Mudra Communications in 1995, charting the media strategies of companies like McDonald’s, Samsung and Nestlé before joining Universal McCann. Verma joined IPG Mediabrands-owned agency Lodestar UM in 2006, working on a wide variety of clients like General Motors, Reckitt Benckiser, Gillette, Madura Garments and Wipro Consumer Care, among others. Initiative Media is a 250-people-strong agency with offices in seven cities across India. Its major clients include consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser, e-commerce platform Amazon, ketchup brand Heinz, Bajaj Auto, smartphone maker Gionee, Samsonite-owned luggage brand American Tourister, and packaged food brand Too Yumm, among others.
Over six centrally-protected monuments in the capital have found corporate sponsors as the Union Ministry of Tourism’s ‘adopt a monument’ began making rounds. The latest in that list is Red Fort, which has been ‘adopted’ by Dalmia Bharat Ltd. The idea is to look after operations at the fort and maintain this UNESCO world heritage site for the next five years. The ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme was launched by the President on World Tourism Day on September 27, 2017. Under it, private and public-sector companies and corporate individuals were invited to adopt heritage sites and to take up responsibility for making them more accessible while also promoting sustainable tourism through conservation and development as their ‘corporate social responsibility’. The basic and advanced amenities of the tourist destinations would be provided by them. They would also look after the operations and the maintenance of the amenities. Other Delhi monuments that have been adopted are Purana Qila (by NBCC), Jantar Mantar (SBI Foundation), Qutub Minar (Yatra.com, an online travel portal), Safdarjung Tomb (Travel Corporation of India) and Agrasen Ki Baoli (Special Holidays Travel Pvt Ltd and Rotary Club of Delhi). An MoU signed between the tourism ministry and Dalmia Bharat says the company would be able to construct, landscape, illuminate and maintain activities related to the provision and development of tourist amenities at Red Fort. This includes various basic and advanced amenities such as public conveniences, clean drinking water, cleanliness of the monument, accessibility for all, signage, cloakroom facilities, illumination and night viewing, surveillance system, tourist facilitation-cum-interpretation centres, among others.
In what could be termed as the biggest initial public offering (IPO) globally, Xiaomi Corp India’s managing director and global vice-president Manu Kumar Jain is to benefit substantially when the $18-billion Chinese smartphone maker lists shares in Hong Kong over the next few months. Jain, 37, is the only foreigner among the 10 employees on board and senior management team who has shares allotted under the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), as per the draft prospectus filed recently. It said Jain has 2.3 million shares, making him its third-highest ESOP holder globally. He was allotted the shares in five tranches starting June 2014 when the brand entered India, with the last two awarded in January and February this year, as per the filing. ESOP holders are led by Xiaomi Corp CFO Chew Shou Zi and Wang Chuan, senior vice president of the TV business, with 5 million shares each. Jain didn’t respond to queries. Jain is credited with building the company’s smartphone business in India and making it market leader in the last quarter, overtaking South Korean giant Samsung. His gross salary was Rs.65 lakh in FY17 as per the Registrar of Companies filings.
Compiled by Joe Williams
