Tariq Premji has come of age. This 40-year-old, the youngest son of Wipro Ltd. chairman and India’s second-richest businessman Azim Premji, has joined the board of Wipro Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Wipro Enterprises chose the youngest scion of the Premji family as an additional director last week, according to an executive familiar with the development. Tariq is the third family member to join the board, after his father and his elder brother Rishad Premji. Privately-held Wipro Enterprises is the parent of Wipro Consumer Care, which recently crossed $1 billion in annual revenue, and Wipro Infrastructure and Engineering, estimated to generate over $400 million in revenue. The remaining three members on the six-member board of Wipro Enterprises are Suresh Senapaty, former chief financial officer of Wipro Ltd; Vineet Agrawal, chief executive officer (CEO) of the company’s consumer care and lighting business, and Pratik Kumar, CEO of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering. Since 2016, Tariq has been on the board of two philanthropic arms of the Wipro empire—the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives and Azim Premji Foundation. “Wipro Enterprises is a private limited company and Tariq Premji’s appointment is in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013,” said a company spokesperson. While Rishad joined Wipro in 2007, Tariq had been part of the Azim Premji Foundation since 2012, working under his father’s trusted lieutenant, K.R. Lakshminarayana. A pass-out from St. Mary’s School in Mumbai, and graduation in commerce from St. Joseph’s College, Bengaluru, he worked at a BPO firm for less than a year before joining Premji Invest, the family office of Azim Premji. After a year there, he joined the endowment arm of his family’s business. Tariq is lean and tall, and sports a ponytail. His colleagues describe him as reserved and self-effacing. Both Tariq and Rishad are extremely close to each other despite their different career paths, and have been supportive of each other through their ups and downs.
Sangita Singh, the Infosys executive vice president and head of its $750-million healthcare and life sciences business, has put in her papers from the company. It is less than two years since she joined the firm. Sangita, one of the senior-most women running a business in the Indian IT industry, had joined Infosys from cross-town rival Wipro where she oversaw the healthcare and life sciences portfolio. Sangita’s departure does not come as a surprise after a string of senior exits in the country’s second-largest IT firm after its former CEO Vishal Sikka had a fallout with some of the founders. Other exits included those of technology head Navin Budhiraja, head of design Sanjay Rajagopalan, Ritika Suri, executive vice president handling large deals, Abdul Razack, senior vice-president and head, platforms, big data and analytics, and Pervinder Johar. Healthcare and lifesciences contributes 6.5% to the company’s overall revenues, and counts Novartis, Pfizer and Aetna among its customers.
B Sriram has been appointed as the MD and CEO of IDBI Bank for a temporary period of three months, according to an official order. The State Bank of India’s Managing Director Sriram takes the place of incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain who was recently named Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sriram as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Bank for a temporary period of three months with effect from Jain’s demitting office, according to the order issued by the personnel ministry. Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in SBI since July 2014. He had been Managing Director of the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. A probationary officer of the government-run bank in the year 1981, Sriram held several positions and also had a stint at SBI’s Singapore office. This move ensures that the bank does not remain headless after Jain’s appointment to the central bank.
Chanda Kochhar will continue as managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank but will be on leave till the internal inquiry is completed. The bank has also made other changes by appointing Sandeep Bakhshi as a wholetime director and Chief Operating Officer (COO). “In line with the highest levels of governance and corporate standards, Chanda Kochhar has decided to go on leave till the completion of the inquiry as announced on May 30, 2018. The board has noted and accepted this. During her period of leave, the COO (Bakhshi) will report to the Board,” the bank stated. Bakhshi has been the managing director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company since August 1, 2010. Prior to this role, he was the deputy managing director of ICICI Bank. The second-largest private sector lender is facing allegations over conflict of interest in loans made to Videocon Group which is alleged to have been favoured by CEO Kochhar. The allegations against Kochhar relate to a loan worth Rs.3,250 crore granted to the Videocon in 2012.
Wellness programmes have become the latest trend in the corporate world. With employees working long hours and stress adding to their daily lives, it’s time companies took the step, and yoga has been on the top of the list of organisations. The Wealth of Wellness (WoW) Team of Tech Mahindra—a group of TechMighty wellness enthusiasts—has developed a concept of ‘virtual yoga assistance’ to give prime importance to the health and well-being of associates. For Tech Mahindra, ‘Wellness before Business’ has been a mantra. Pune WoW team are working with the team at Makers Lab, Tech Mahindra’s R&D arm, to make this long-desired application a reality. Called ‘Aasana’, the virtual yoga assistant will share automated yoga reminders to enable stretching, while employees remain seated at their workstations. Employees logged onto their systems will find Aasana popping-up at the lower right hand corner of the desktop. The application will greet the employees and guide them through yoga routines. Its various in-built yogic postures (aasanas) will encourage employees to perform them at regular intervals. Starting with Sukshamayoga and Chair Suryanamaskar, followed by stretching for cervical spondylitis and lower back pain, everything will be led by the bot. The bot will also help answer yoga-related queries and provide additional information about postures too. Also, there are guided meditation and health videos from certified trainers. It can even be customised as per individual requirements. WoW on mobile, featuring Aasana, can keep employees updated on sessions within the campus. Markelytics Solutions, a global market research agency has pledged yoga in their daily routine through Desktop Yoga, a modern form of yoga for the office-goer. In order to achieve the desired results, Markelytics has collaborated with a certified yoga instructor for a week to educate employees on the benefits of yoga, the ideal postures, best practices in daily work routine for an ideal mind and body balance, and so on. The idea is to get the staff habituated to desktop yoga and other best practices so that they can continue this improved lifestyle even at work.
General Motors (GM), US’s largest automaker has got Indian-American woman, Dhivya Suryadevara as its Chief Finance Officer. Dhivya, currently the vice president of corporate finance, will succeed Chuck Stevens, the GM’s present CFO, on September 1, according to a statement issued by the company. Chennai-born Suryadevara has been GM’s vice president of corporate finance since July 2017, and will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra. Barra and Suryadevara are the first women in their respective positions in the auto industry, as no other major global automaker has a female CEO and CFO. GM will join a very short list of S&P 500 companies, including Hershey Co. and American Water Works Co., with women serving as CEO and CFO. A master’s degree holder in commerce from the University of Madras, Dhivya moved to the US at the age of 22 to pursue her MBA from Harvard University. A chartered financial analyst and accountant, she has worked at UBS and PriceWaterhouseCoopers before joining the Detroit-based GM in 2005 at the age of 25. “Dhivya’s experience and leadership in several key roles throughout our financial operations positions her well to build on the strong business results we’ve delivered over the last several years,” Barra said in a statement.
Home Credit India Finance has got Sandip Mallik as its new Chief Human Resources Officer. He will be handling critical HR responsibilities including talent acquisition and retention, organisational change management, employer branding, hiring, learning & development, employee engagement, compensation and benefits, and rewards framework across the organisation. Commenting on the move, Mallik stated, “I look forward to working with the senior management team and other stakeholders to attract, develop, and retain a talented and diverse workforce that will continue to drive the company’s priorities forward.” With over three decades in multi-cultured experience, Mallik has worked across India, Southeast Asia and Europe, in sectors such as life insurance, manufacturing, energy, and diversified conglomerates. He has been an entrepreneur and founded a boutique alternate asset management firm specialising in fine art investment. He has held diverse portfolios in senior leadership positions in firms such as Aviva, Emerson, GE and various Indian companies. From introducing strength-based recruitment practices to implementing organisation development and learning programmes across several Asian markets, Mallik’s experience has been quite diverse. He will take over from Jindra Hachova who completed a successful three-year assignment in May. “Mallik brings a unique combination of cross-sectoral expertise and well-honed strategic and business capabilities that will be an asset to our overall HR strategy,” stated Pavel Maco, CEO, Home Credit India.
Angela Ryan joins the Fox Networks Group Asia (FNGA) family as she gets appointed as its new head of human resources to support the Group’s bold ambitions in the region. She takes over from Linda Hui, SVP-HR, who has left the company after 11 years of service. Ryan joins FNGA from GroupM, where she was chief human resources officer for Asia Pacific, leading a team of HR and talent professionals across the full spectrum of HR functions, including digital transformation. With over two decades in the field, her hands-on human resource expertise spans UK, Europe, China, Latin America and Asia Pacific. She will oversee talent management, development and recruitment, supporting the Group’s ambitions to scale, innovate and embrace the future as Asia Pacific’s leading entertainment provider. “FNGA is dedicated to igniting imagination across the region. With the right people on board, the business can continue to bring these awe-inspiring stories to life and deliver them to consumers. I’m thrilled to support FNGA in continuing its ambitious course towards strong talent management and bold human capital strategies, in order to protect its success and propel innovation,” commented Angela on the move. “This will enhance our move in meeting the future of the company as there are plans to increase our investments in original content production, digital technology and most importantly, all-human capital,” said Zubin Gandevia, president, FNGA. He went on to add, “It’s clichéd but true; we are nothing without our team, and Angela with her experience in digital transformation will work with my leadership team and myself to be a guiding force and help us further strengthen our people, nurturing the Fox culture of playing, winning and having fun together.”
After a very successful 10 years, RiseSmart, a contemporary career transition services company has come a long way with Joel Paul, who has overseen its India’s operations. The two-man company in 2008 has now risen to a 100-member workforce in 2018. This has promoted the company think-tank to elevate Paul as general manager (GM) of its India operations. Paul will oversee the company’s in-country commercial, operational, and financial results. He will continue to report to Dan Davenport, president and general manager, RiseSmart. Paul has been the key resource for the establishment and rapid growth of the company in India. Since his association, the JCR team has seen significant growth, and expanded into areas such as office administration, data/analytics, reporting, customer support and also ventured into countries such as Australia, Canada, and more recently, Indian outplacement operations (coaching, résumé writing, outreach). Paul was also responsible for real estate, facility, vendors, benefits. Clearly, his has been an expanding and demanding role as the company has diversified operations in India. In his new role, Paul will have P&L accountability, including overseeing the sales and client services teams. Commenting on the move taken by his company, Paul said, “I am excited about this new role as I would get to exercise the combination of my sales and leadership experience. RiseSmart has grown exponentially in India as organisations have become aware of the value outplacement services bring to them and we have much more planned for our stint in India as we hope to expand our business. To support our growth story, we continue to hire as we require a lot of manpower in the form of product engineers and technical leads, among others”.
Sunil Sood, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone India Ltd, who was Vice Chairman of the industry body for the last two years, will now hold the position of chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), while Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Airtel Ltd, will be the vice chairman, COAI stated in a release issued recently. This decision was taken after their annual general body meeting which was held recently. “We would like to thank our leadership for their guidance and support during one of the most challenging periods in the telecom sector and further express confidence in their ability to steer the Association and the sector towards long-term health and stability,” said COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews. Sood takes the place of Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia. Mathews said the sector contributes 6.5 per cent to the national GDP, while the industry is reeling under Rs.7.64 lakh crore debt and the additional investment of Rs.2 lakh crore is still required over the next two years to fulfil the dream of a digitally-connected India. “We are sure the partnership between the government and the sector will get stronger and these targets will be achieved. The National Digital Communications Policy 2018, recently unveiled by the DoT, holds significant promise for the industry that has been facing difficult times over the last few years,” Mathews said. Following the merger of Vodafone India with Idea Cellular, Sood will join the Vodafone Group AMAP (Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific) leadership team and also help governance through Board membership.
In yet another exit, the Infosys’ head of manufacturing Nitesh Banga has quit the company to join product engineering services company GlobalLogic, which is a newly-created position. Banga will look after delivery, operations, talent recruitment and management, information technology and investment strategy, and will report to CEO Shashank Samant. Banga has been with Infosys for over a decade and has served in various capacities. Banga was Senior Vice President & Global Head of the Manufacturing business at Infosys, as well as member of the board of their software subsidary, EdgeVerve. “Nitesh is a well-respected and exceptionally qualified executive who will drive strategic prioritisation and profitable growth initiatives within GlobalLogic,” said Samant. Banga was based in the San Francisco Bay Area when he was with Infosys, but GlobalLogic did not disclose where he would be based. In a statement issued by GolbalLogic, Banga stated, “In a world where enterprise survival and competitiveness are going to be shaped by the extent of their consumer-centricity and digital embrace, GlobalLogic is in a unique and exciting position to help brands transform themselves with technology.”
by Joe Williams
