CEO Sundar Pichai dons dual responsibilities

Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, is all set to don another hat as he doubles up as CEO of Alphabet Inc–the parent company that runs Google and other subsidiaries. The move was ticked off when Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin relinquished their respective responsibilities in the parent company as CEO and President, to pursue personal passions. Both the co-founders will continue to serve on the board of directors at Alphabet and hold control voting rights over the company. While they will have a strong influence, Page and Brin pledged that they will “remain actively involved as Board members, shareholders and co-founders,” as well as “continue talking with Sundar regularly.” Pichai has been credited for creating the now-ubiquitous Google Chrome browser. He then took over the Android business from its founder Andy Rubin and managed the smartphone operating system globally and within a year Google shipped one billion devices. Pichai was also in charge of product and engineering at Google’s Internet businesses before he took over as Google’s CEO in 2015. Ironically, Pichai was interviewed on the day Gmail was launched officially and he was honest about not knowing much about the services his honesty paid off and he landed the job as VP of Product Management.

AKRITI CHOPRA GETS TOP FINANCE DECK AT ZOMATO

Akriti Chopra has been promoted as Zomato’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and she fills in the almost year-long void, post the departure of the then CFO, Sameer Maheshwary, at the company’s Gurugram head office. An insider, Akriti has been instrumental in building up Zomato’s finance and legal teams for the past eight years since 2011, when she joined the company. Her appointment was approved by the Zomato board at a meeting held on November 8, according to a research note published by business intelligence platform paper.vc. A graduate of Lady Shri Ram College, Akriti has been with Zomato since its startup moments and was promoted as VP -Finance & Operations within a year of joining the company. In the interim between Maheshwary’s departure and Akriti’s appointment, Zomato’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder, Gaurav Gupta, has been handling the top finance portfolio. Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO, Zomato, said, “Her (Akriti’s) analytical bent of mind, high level of ownership, and moral authority makes her a great fit for the role of CFO at Zomato”.

SINDHU GANGADHARAN STEPS UP AS MD OF SAP LABS INDIA

Sindhu Gangadharan has taken over as MD of the German tech giant, SAP Labs India, and became the first woman ever to head the company in recent times. Bengaluru-born Sindhu is leading an 8000 plus strong team currently. By taking over as the MD in her new role in September 2019, she broke the glass ceiling in this highly male dominated space. She began her career with SAP Labs India in 1999 in Bengaluru and thereon spent 18 years of her career span with the company in Germany. She has since relocated to Bengaluru to herald her new position as MD-SAP Labs in India. Gangadharan said, “It’s what you bring to the table, articulating what you know, and bringing your best self to work that takes you to the top, gender not being a consideration.” A mother of two, she emphasised that “I always felt there’s nothing like work-life balance. Work is also a significant part of one’s life. Women are evolving away from compartmentalisation. Our focus is on achieving a flow between all aspects of our lives.” Cultural inclusivity, thought leadership and customer-centric approach is what Sindhu has brought to the table in charting out her successful career.

Former CMD of Coal India Joins Board of British Columbia’s Colonial Coal

Partha S. Bhattacharyya, former Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Limited has been appointed to the board of directors at the Vancouver based-Colonial Coal. Colonial Coal is a publicly traded coal corporation in British Columbia.“We are very excited and extremely honoured to have Partha join our Board of Directors. I am very pleased that Partha has agreed to work with Company management and provide Colonial Coal with very sound and expert advice as the Company considers its various business development options going forward. We are very excited by what the future holds for our company and its share-holders and having Partha work with us now is a further testament to the value of our various business interests,” said David Austin, Colonial Coal’s Chairman. An Alumni of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Bhattacharyya joined Coal India as a management train-ee, prior to which he was Chairman and Managing Director of BCCL.

Anand Sen takes over as ED and COO at Tata International Ltd.

Tata International Limited (TIL) appoints Anand Sen as Executive-Director and Chief Operations Officer from December 1, 2019. He will report to Noel Naval Tata, Group MD. Sen was inducted into the company’s board as non-executive director last October and with the new change, all vertical heads of the company will report to Sen. He was previously designated as President-Tata Steel, steered the Steel Business and Total Quality Management (TQM). “Contributing to the efficient growth of the company would be the shared goal. I am confident that we shall together conquer many peaks going forward,’ said Sen. He has over 35 years of experience working at Tata Steel in various capacities. He has worked across Marketing and Sales, Strategy and Business Leadership, Operations, Maintenance, Technology, Supply Chain and Projects. He also served as Chairman of several Tata companies including Tata Steel Processing and distribution, Tayo Rolls and NatSteel. He has also been a board member for Tata Bluescope, Tinplate Company of India, Jamshedpur Continuous Annealing and Processing and Bhushan Steel. He served as Chairman of the India Chapter of Association of Iron and Steel Technology, President of Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), and co-chairs the CII National Committee on Steel.

OYO INDUCTS CEO ADITYA GHOSH, TO THE BOARD

Aditya Ghosh, presently CEO, India & South Asia for the hotels and homes business at OYO Hotels & Homes has been proposed to be inducted to the company’s board of directors. Aditya’s elevation and inclusion to the strong line-up of its existing board members comes after successful year-long completion with the global hotel and vacation home chain. During the period, he nurtured the hotels and homes business in India and South Asia to prominence by implementing several programs to strengthen OYO’s operating metrics and customer experience. This resulted in more than doubling the asset-owner community from almost 5500 plus to 18000 plus hotels in a short span of time. In his new role at the board, Aditya is expected to provide noteworthy governance and leadership keeping with OYO’s impetus for evolving into a ‘real-time’ globally placed high performing company. Ghosh is also expected to bring in scales that promises sustainability on the path to profitability building upon higher expectations from consumers, asset owners, investors and employees. Ghosh will focus on five key areas of safety and security, customer experience, corporate governance, revenue management and stakeholder communications. He will be part of a strong line-up of is current members Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes, Betsy Atkins, Founder and CEO, Baja Corporation and other industry experts like Munish Varma, Managing Partner, SoftBank Vision Fund, Bejul Somaia, among others–pitching for a powerful, diverse, global combination in the hospitality business.

K MADHAVAN PROMOTED AS COUNTRY MANAGER AT DISNEY-STAR

KMadhavan, veteran media personality takes over the reins as Country Manager for all of Disney’s conventional TV businesses in India. He has been named the new country manager for Star and Disney India and gains prominence over his previous role as head of Disney’s regional language TV businesses in South India (Star India) since 2016. Madhavan is seen as the number three in the pecking order at Star and was elevated to run all regional language channels within the Star network. He will oversee all TV operations for Star which includes hindi and regional languages, as part of his new role. The move is part of a top-level executive organisational rejig by Disney India. He takes over from Sanjay Gupta, who has tabled his resignation as Head of Star TV and expected to officially handover his position by December 27, 2019. Madhavan will report to Uday Shankar, President, the Walt Disney Company APAC, and Chairman, Star and Disney India. Madhavan has previously held positions as Managing Director of Asianet Communications Ltd and as Vice-president of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. “Star is seeking conti-nuity with the elevation of Madhavan. He is a seasoned hand, who’s been in the system for long,” said a media expert.

Paytm’s Financial Services Director steps down

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder Paytm, has renounced his position as Paytm Financial Services Director, citing “other preoccupations” as reasons for his inability to continue with the role. But reports said that the resignation move has been done in compliance with current Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms. As per RBI’s regulation, it prohibits a payments bank chairman to also hold a directorial position in an NBFC (non-banking finance company) unless it’s a subsidiary of the bank. Reports published said that Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s resignation letter was submitted in early December and the then ensuing Vice President, Rohit Lohia, designated as its Director. “I hereby tender my resignation as Director of the Company with immediate effect due to other Preoccupations. Kindly acknowledge the receipt and take necessary steps to complete requisite filing in this regard with the office of the Registrar of Companies, NCT of Delhi and Haryana,” the letter said. Experts have observed that Sharma’s stepping down is a sign of good governance. Paytm’s payments bank was launched in India in May 2017, which was two months before the launch of its financial services arm. The new move indicates that Paytm has now rectified itself by following the RBI norms, which was not in compliance before Vijay Shek-har’s resignation. Sharma will remain as founder and CEO of Paytm and its parent company-One97.

Head of Emerging Markets at Aon India Resigns

Anandorup Ghose, a partner and the head of emerging markets at Aon India, has resigned after a close to a 14-year stint with the company. He also headed the performance, rewards and organisation practice at Aon and has since moved on to join Deloitte as a partner in building up its performance rewards vertical. Ghose’s resignation has seen an exodus of nearly 15 consultants including three directors who have left with him. Industry experts said that compensation and rewards was the missing link in Deloitte’s human capital practise, and with Ghose stepping in, Deloitte is ex-pected to bring focus to this area in the human capital practice which has a strength of close to 230-plus people.

Bajaj Auto Invests in Bengaluru-based Yulu Bikes

Bajaj Auto Ltd is closing in on investing $8 million in Yulu Bikes, an electric bikes based transportation model that has evolved on the concept of last-mile ‘bike rental services provider’ in Bengaluru. As per the arrangement, Yulu will source electric two-wheelers from Bajaj, which have been co-designed and manufactured exclusively for this shared micro-mobility model. Bajaj is expected to help Yulu fund its vehicle procurement for large-scale deployment across cities in India. Amit Gupta, Founder of Yulu, launched this vehicle segment in 2017 with three other co-founders with the aim of tackling the twin problems of vehicular congestion and emission pollution in India’s larger urban zones within cities. Initially starting off with bicycles, Yulu gradually started incorporating specifically designed electric two-wheelers on the roads. “Congestion reduction and pollution control will drive the seg-ment of shared micromobility in the future. That coupled with the expan-sion of mass rapid transport systems like metro rails in large cities will further boost the demand for flexible last-mile connectivity,” said Rajiv Bajaj, Man-aging Director of Bajaj Auto.

Gunjan Arya, new CEO of OML Entertainment

Gunjan Arya has been promoted as Chief Executive of OML Entertainment Private Limited, the Indian artist and event management company, as part of a major management rejig. The new leadership team has also elevated Dhruv Sheth as CEO (Chief Operating Officer) and designated Saurabh Abbi as the Chief Business Officer for new initiatives and international business. Gunjan has been building brands since the age of 16 and has work experiences with global as well as Indian ad agencies such as Arnold Worldwide in Boston and chlorophyll in India. She has been helping the company transform itself from a homegrown Indian company to a global company, setting up one of its fastest-growing verticals he Global Creator Network, with a presence in over 22 countries. She has also been a key member of the live events team—from the design of the very first BACARDÍ NH7 Weekender festival, to leading the business vertical that runs over 300+ shows every year. Arya will continue to be a part of the board of directors at OML and play a significant role in its international business too.

Shreyas Shibulal launches dedicated EV Fund

Shreyas Shibulal, son of Infosys Co-founder SD Shibulal, has created a fund dedicated to ploughing in investments in the electric vehicles (EV) segment. Christened as ‘Micelio’, the fund has been set up with Shreyas’s personal wealth. With a corpus of `140 crore, he intends to invest it across different startups, essentially in the EVspace. The interest in electric vehicles had been on his mind since his college days. With a post graduation degree in embedded systems from the University of Pennsylvania, Shreyas had interned at Tesla for a brief period; he also built a car as a college project. It was during his stint with Tesla that he felt the need to bring about similar innovation in India. “Electric vehicles today are a need. The rising crude oil prices and the imports have made it a must-have,” he said. “With Micelio, the idea is to build and create an ecosystem that can nurture the existing talent and ecosystem players. The idea of the fund is to help build a long-term impact. It is a sector that needs patient and longterm capital,” he said.