Parag Raja joins Bharti AXA as MD & CEO

Parag Raja joins as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bharti AXA Life Insurance, subject to IRDAI approval. A joint venture between business group Bharti Enterprises and insurance company AXA, Raja will succeed Vikas Seth, who helmed affairs at the company for the past two and a half years. Raja comes with a total work experience of nearly 21 years, with 19 years devoted to the life insurance industry alone in India. Prior to his new appointment with Bharti AXA, Raja expedited prime role with Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI) as its the Chief Distribution Officer-responsible for planning, execution, and expansion of ABSLI’s footprint across India. He was instrumental in leading a team of over 6,000 employees across ABSLI’s countrywide distribution, training, human resource, operations, business planning and in the analytics sector. He was also a key founding member of Max Life Insurance in his 15 years stint with the company. In his previous stints, he is also been attached to ICICI and ANZ Grindlays Bank. He is an alumnus of Mumbai-based prestigious institutions like Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Sydenham, and HR College.

Vineet Arora to head Paytm’s Insurance arm

Vineet Arora joins as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Paytm General Insurance Ltd., pending regulatory approvals. Arora has thereby stepped down from his former role India leadership team position as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at of Aegon Life Insurance Company to fulfil his new role with Paytm. Arora’s appointment is a step forward for the digital payments major as Paytm forays further into the insurance sector with a prime and immediate focus on General Insurance sector. Arora is expected to lead Paytm in its initiatives in providing industry-led solutions in areas of general insurance, as the company sets to explore options to enter this sector. Arora also played pole positions in his previous work experiences as senior general manager and head Product, Distribution, Marketing and Wealth Management at ICICI Securities Ltd, building a profitable distribution business across various delivery channels.

YOGI SRIRAM, L&T HR CHIEF, RETIRES

Yogi Sriram and Senior Vice President (SVP)–Corporate Human Resources and Member of the Executive Committee, Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) has retired from the leadership post, having charted an illustrious career graph of 16 years with the company. He will, however, hold the fort as Advisor Group HR to CEO & MD of L&T as he handed over the baton to C Jayakumar currently promoted as Vice President & Head (Corporate Human Resources), L&T. A renowned HR stalwart, Yogi has had a dominance of the country’s HR scene for the past 43 years and spearheaded L&T’s Group HR function in the past eight years in his last role as SVP. Most of the company’s signature HR practices across leadership, developmental centres, performance management system (FAIR) were implemented under his regime with the company. He has had two stints within the conglomerate serving across global operations and other functions in core sectors of technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing, IT and financial services. He was instrumental in setting up and leading L&Ts world-class Institute of Project Management. Prior to joining L&T, he headed ABB’s HR operations and also leadership within NTPC. He was Director, HR for British Petroleum across 41 countries and as CHRO for Indian Hotels Company Ltd., before he began his journey with L&T. Yogi’s current advisory position is deemed to be most valuable as L&T operates with newer people and business challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘national’ lockdown.

Sameer Aggarwal, new CEO of Walmart India

Sameer Aggarwal has stepped up as the CEO of Walmart’s India arm - Best Price Modern wholesale (cash-and-carry) format stores. He replaces Krish Iyer, who will retire from the post and will work as an advisor to the U.S. retailer’s Best Price, Walmart India. Aggarwal will report to Dirk Van den Berghe, Executive Vice President and Regional CEO of Asia and global sourcing and his focus will primarily be rested on building more digital, and omnichannel services as the U.S. retail giant looks to rapidly investing its reach through online offerings for its members. Aggarwal's promotion follows downsizing at the retailer’s Gurugram corporate office, earlier this year. His Walmart journey began in 2018 as Executive Vice President overseeing strategy and administration and was gradually delegated as deputy CEO in January 2020, that set Agarwal’s ground for his role CEO. He will helm the retailer’s India businesses which operate 28 wholesale (cash-and-carry) stores in India. These stores service smaller mom-and-pop shops, trades, hotels and restaurants in India. Aggarwal has had previous stints working across retail, consulting, and the restaurants business in several global markets.

Vishpala Reddy to head HR at Phillips India

Philips appoints Vishpala Reddy as new HR head for the Indian subcontinent. Reddy will take over the baton from Armaan Seth who has been associated with the Amsterdam-based conglomerate for more than eight years.

Reddy’s previous stint was with the cab-aggregator company, Uber since 2017. She held the position of Regional HR-Director for APAC with Uber moving up the rung at the cab-aggregator company from her initial position as Chief People Officer for India and South Asia region. An alumnus of the Symbiosis Centre for Management and HRD, Reddy has close to 20 years of experience within the HR portfolio. She held important positions with American Express for nearly 12 years leading the HR workforce of more than 12,000 employees at AMEX. She also had stints at other HR consulting firms like Aon and with Cognizant Technology.

HDFC Board shortlists Aditya Puri’s successors

Aditya Puri, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD), HDFC Bank, will finally be handing over his leadership mantle to a new incumbent this year-having led the bank from the front for the past 25 years since its inception. The replacement is due as Puri turns 70 in October, which is the maximum age limit for a bank CEO as per RBI norms. The board of India’s largest private sector lender in terms of the market cap has shortlisted successors to replace Aditya Puri, pending approval from the RBI. The candidate as approved by the RBI will succeed Puri, whose term as the MD and CEO of the Bank is slated to expire on October 26, 2020. "The board of Directors of the bank has today finalised the names of three candidates, in the order of preference, for the position of the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of the bank," HDFC Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The ongoing year-long hunt for Puri’s successor began with HDFC Bank constituting a six-member search committee to replace Puri and had also incorporated international headhunting firm Egon Zehnder to assist the panel. Pending final disclosure, the names of internal candidates-Sashidhar Jagdishan and Kaizad Bharucha, as well as Sunil Garg, global CEO of Citi Commercial Bank are doing the rounds for the bank’s top position. While both are additional directors, Jagdishan heads finance, human resources, legal and secretarial functions, while Bharucha is in charge of HDFC’s wholesale banking. HDFC had already declared that Jagdishan and Bhavesh Zaveri have resigned as directors, in line with RBI’s instructions in keeping their appointments in abeyance till such time that a new MD and CEO is appointed in due course.

Anand Mahindra, N Chandrasekaran to guide corona patient tracker

Anand Mahindra, Group Chairperson, Mahindra & Mahindra, and N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons have been roped in as important members for upgrading the Government’s recently launched ‘Arogya Setu’ app, a Covid-19 patient tracking technology platform. Other prominent team members include K VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor; R S Sharma, Chairman Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI); Electronics and Information Technology, Ajay Sawhney and Anshu Prakash, Telecom Secretary. The app is expected to track any individual who would be exposed to anyone who has displayed Covid-19 warning signs or related mild symptoms. This information would be crucial for places that usually witness large congregations such as schools, offices and markets. The Group will process proposals from academicians, healthcare and technology professionals and the general public in tackling the pandemic. “Since India is such a large country, we will need to develop solutions that are workable here and also use the app and technology to inform people what are the places closest to them where they can find essential items such as masks,” said an official.

Ravi Teltia joins as CFO NRB Bearings

Ravi Teltia has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at NRB Bearings, Mumbai-based manufacturers of cylindrical roller bearings. Teltia’s decade long expertise covers areas of finance business partnering, project management, controllership, forecasting, strategic planning, plant accounting, performance management, compliance, risk management, internal controls, commercials and profit and loss management. Prior to NRB, he was Head of Finance at Lumileds, a global lighting company. He has held leadership positions at like Philips, Surya Roshni Ltd and also with Tata Chemicals. Incorporated in 1965, NRB Bearings has a total of eight manufacturing units in India and Thailand.

CMD Bajaj Healthcare announces pandemic drug approval

Sajankumar Bajaj, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), Bajaj Healthcare Limited (BHL) has announced that the company has received FDA approval for manufacturing Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate Bulk Drug and formulation for its tablets. BHL is one of the leading manufacturers of API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) and formulations and the recent announcement comes at a critical juncture as the COVID-19 pandemic widens bringing in an unprecedented interest for the anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory drug - Hydroxychloroquine. BHL will commence production of the Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate API at its state-of-art manufacturing facilities based in Vadodara, Gujarat. “This is an overly critical time in our fight against COVID-19. With our existing capabilities and our ability to fast-track production of Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate and its tablets, we are well-positioned to partially meet the prospective demand and will continue to do everything we can to support the healthcare needs of our fellow citizens and human race globally,” said Bajaj, CMD, BHL. India manufactures 70% of the global supply of Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate.

UpGrad appoints Preeti Kaul as President-HR

Preeti Kaul has joined as President of Human Resources at UpGrad, the online skilling platform. To be based out of the company’s Mumbai office, Preeti’s leadership role in the HR function will primarily rally around driving a high-performing inclusive culture and employee experience in their journey at upGrad. She brings in over 20 years of experience across HR leadership roles in various capacities across multiple organisations. Prior to up- Grad, Preeti’s six-year stint at the UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 500 company, steered the Human Capital and Talent & Leadership Development position where she led multi-generational and cross-geo workforce. She also had prior opportunities working with WNS Global Services, Atos, Syntel and Ernst & Young where she influenced business through transformational and futuristic permutations of people, practice, and processes. An MBA graduate in Human Resources with a Post Graduate Diploma in Labour Laws and Welfare, she sought the Executive Leadership Programme from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. UpGrad offers online programmes for working professionals and has on-boarded over 21.5K paid learners and influenced more than 370K learners globally. The platform recently partnered with BridgeLabz to launch a development programme for engineers.

Aayeer takes over from Kakar to head PPL

G B Aayeer will lead music industry body, PPL (Phonographic Performance), as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). PPL, which collects sound recording royalties on behalf of the music industry has positioned Aayeer to take over the baton from Rajat Kakar. Prior to joining PPL, Aayeer had a successful leadership stint across Saregama in various capacities as its CFO, an interim CEO and as Executive Director on the Board of the listed company. Aayeer is reputed for his sum total of 38 years helming a variety of senior positions across corporations. PPL is the only CMO in India which is affiliated to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), the apex body of the global music industry.

Ajay Mahajan, appointed MD and CEO of CARE Ratings

Ajay Mahajan has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the credit rating agency, CARE Ratings, for the next five years with effect from April 15, 2020. Following the new appointment, T N Arun Kumar, the interim CEO of the company, will now revert back to his previous position of Chief Ratings Officer and oversee ratings operations, as per a regulatory filing by the agency. Mahajan who began his career in 1990 with the Bank of America, progressed as Managing Director and Country Head of its Global Markets Group. He then moved on to join the YES Bank management team in 2004, built UBS’ maiden branch in India in 2008, with a prior stint with IDFC, which gradually saw a transformation from being an infrastructure financing NBFC (non-banking finance company) to a full-service commercial bank. The top deck movements at the ratings agency has been ongoing since February 2020, when CARE informed SEBI that due to personal reasons, its then Chairman and Independent Director, S B Mainak, had tabled his resignation with effect from February 11, 2020.

VIP Industries appoints new CFO

Neetu Kashiramka takes over the reins as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at VIP Industries Ltd, the luggage and travel accessories company. As she steps down from her former CFO position at Greaves Cotton, VIP is expected to gain from her 20 years of expertise across diverse sectors including that of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, merger and acquisitions, private equity, IPO, QIP, fundraising, investor relation budgeting and business partnering. Prior to her two-year stint as CFO at Greaves Cotton, she has held prime positions as Vice President - Finance with Jyothy Laboratories Ltd. and as Assistant Manager – Accounts with Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd. A Chartered Accountant, she is an Alumni of Mumbai’s Ghanshyamdas Saraf College.

Aalok Kumar to helm NEC Tech India

Aalok Kumar has been roped in as head of NEC Technologies India, the Indian arm of the Japanese technology giant – NEC Corporation. As he relinquishes his former role as Senior Vice President of McKinsey & Company, Aalok Kumar’s appointment at NEC has been facilitated by Takayuki Inaba, who has now been designated as the new Executive Chairman at NEC Technologies India. With more than 26 years of extensive experience working across the APAC and EMEA regions across diverse roles, Kumar is expected to bring in leadership that combines strategic thinking with operational excellence. “His rich experience in business transformation and performance improvement, especially in Japan and other Asian markets, will help us accelerate our growth,” said Akihiko Kumagai, President of the Global Business Unit, NEC Corporation. With a strength close to 6000 employees in India, NEC is also at the forefront of pushing biometric-based digital boarding at airports across India.