Anish Shah to helm auto major M&M as MD and CEO
Anish Shah will take over as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, effective April 2, 2021-becoming the first professional MD and CEO in the history of the Mahindra Group to oversee complete responsibility for the Group businesses. This move follows the company’s top-tier succession plans announced in December 2019 that followed Anand Mahindra’s role transitions to that of Non-Executive Chairman. Stepping down from his executive position, Anand Mahindra also follows the SEBI mandate that from April 2022, the chairperson of the board of top 500 listed entities must be a non-executive director and not be related to the MD or CEO. Shah is the current Deputy Managing Director and Group Chief Financial Officer. He joined Mahindra in 2015 as the Group President-Strategy, leading strategy development, built capabilities such as digitisation and data sciences, enabled synergies across group companies and managed the risk and performance review organisations. In previous roles, he was President and CEO of GE Capital India. In his 14-year-long stint at GE, he held several leadership positions with the company’s U.S. and global units. He has also been at the forefront of diverse global businesses beyond GE, leading Bank of America’s U.S. debit products business. He started his career with Citibank in Mumbai before moving on to Bain & Company as a strategy consultant in Boston. He is a PhD. holder from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, with a Master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon and an alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad.
Jehangir Nusli WadiaJeh Wadia steps down as MD GoAir
Jehangir Nusli Wadia (Jeh Wadia) has stepped down as Managing Director (MD) of the low-cost carrier (LCC) GoAir, as the company appoints Ben Baldanza, as the company’s new Vice Chairman. Jeh, son of Chairman Nusli Wadia, took charge as the MD of the airline in December 2017 following the resignation of former GoAir MD and Chief Executive, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer. Baldanza, former CEO of Spirit Airlines as the new VC, will liaise with the current management of Kaushik Khona (CEO) and Pankaj Chaturvedi (CFO), in its ambitious plans to steer GoAir into India’s first ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC). Jeh Wadia’s exit as MD is the latest in top-level rejiggers with GoAir in recent times and is seen as a strategic move for an impending IPO, which is expected to take the airlines to their next growth dimensions. While Jeh will continue as a promoter, the company is looking at longterm measures to strengthen its management by on-boarding industry experts like Baldanza. An industry veteran who has been an advisor to GoAir from 2018 and director since 2019, Baldanza has been associated with American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Continental Airlines before he became the CEO of Spirit Airlines in 2006. Spirit Airlines went public by successfully leading its IPO in 2011 and GoAir, which has been planning an IPO for over a decade now, is understood to be finally getting ready to go public in the next fiscal. Baldanza’s experience in creating the first ULCC in the U.S., by turning it profitable and successfully leading its IPO is expected to leverage GoAir’s ambitious growth plans.
Sir Ralf SpethTVS Motor inducts former Jaguar Land Rover CEO to its board
Prof Sir Ralf Speth, ex-CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been appointed to the board of directors at TVS Motor Company. In another move, Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company, will become the Chairman Emeritus effective January 2023, and Sir Ralf will be succeeding him as the Chairman. In his most recent role, Sir Ralph was the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover for over 11 years. His passion for technology, eye for products and commitment to build brands is expected to contribute to TVS Motors as the company shapes up for the future. His deep insights and guidance is seen as invaluable to the TVS management team as the company adopts the future of mobility. He continues to serve on the board of Tata Sons. Sir Ralf began his career in BMW and grew his career path to a very senior level at a young age. He completed his PhD at Warwick Manufacturing Group and later joined the Premier Auto Group, where he was responsible for product planning and quality. He then moved to join Linde, the chemical giant where he was responsible for their global operations. He was knighted by Her Majesty-the British Queen in 2018 for his contributions to the British industry. In 2020, he was recognised by The Royal Society for his passion for science and became a Fellow of the British Royal Society, a rare honour for any business leader.
Javagal SrinathJavagal Srinath invests in microblog Koo
Javagal Srinath, a former Indian cricketer has invested in Bombinate Technologies, the parent company of Koo, India’s home-grown microblog. He joined Koo when Kannada was the only language on the platform. Koo mirrors the value of grit that he displayed on the field. Srinath’s move supports India’s quest to become self-reliant in technology. Shunwei Capital, which is led by a partnership team that includes people of Chinese origin, had invested in the earlier Bombinate product-an app called Vokal. Srinath has 100,000+ followers on Koo compared to 11,250 followers on Twitter. Also fondly known as Mysore express, Srinath lauded Koo for building a platform that brings the voices of Indian language audiences onto the Internet.
Baba KalyaniBaba Kalyani to receive the 2021 Punyabhushan award
Noted industrialist and Group Head, Baba Kalyani, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge, the flagship of the Kalyani Group of Companies, will be the proud recipient of the Punyabhushan award this year. Instituted by Pune-based Tridal, Baba Kalyani was selected by a panel headed by noted scientist Raghunath Mashelkar. Satish Desai, President of Tridal said that the award comprising of Rs.1lakh in cash, a citation and a memento, showing a young Shivaji Maharaj ploughing Pune’s land with a gold hoe, will be awarded at a ceremony to be held by the year-end when the Covid-19 situation gradually dissipates. The other proud awardees to be felicitated include those who excelled in para-sports including two freedom fighters and three soldiers. The award is given annually to an eminent personality from the field of art, music, culture, science, industry, social service or sports. “We will also felicitate soldiers who suffered injuries while serving as well as freedom fighters as part of the Punyabhushan honours,” said Desai. The soldiers who will be felicitated are Dharamvir Singh (56), a renowned throwball player, Suresh Kumar Karki, a wheelchair basketball player, swimmer and marathon runner and K Nagi Reddy, a national-level wheelchair basketball player. Freedom fighters Hausabai Patil from Satara and Madhavrao Mane of Sangli will also be felicitated.
Caesar SenguptaGoogle veteran Sengupta quits
Caesar Sengupta, Vice President and General Manager - Google’s payments and ‘Next Billion Users’ (NBU) initiative, has resigned after severing 15 years of his association with the company, effective April 30, 2021. Sengupta’s personal decision to quit the company is expected to pave an entrepreneurial journey for the seasoned veteran, widely acknowledged for Google’s NBU initiative in making the internet and services more accessible to users in developing markets that also face data, network and hardware constraints. He has played significant roles in launching, building and leading initiatives such as ChromeOS and Google Pay. By launching Google Pay (former Google Tez) in 2015, he not only made it successful in India but also triggered its re-launch in the U.S. and Singapore. In previous roles, he served as VP and Product Lead at ChromeOS, the company’s desktop operating system that powers Chromebooks. Singapore-based Sengupta has been instrumental in leading Google’s efforts in building products for the next generation of internet users such as Android Go, Datally, Kormo Jobs and Files apps. Beginning his journey with Google in 2006, he also spearheaded its strategic investments in startups including the Indonesian ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek, Jio Platforms, InMobi’s Glance, and Dunzo. He hinted at his departure from Google via LinkedIn and said, “I am going to take some time to chill, talk to interesting people, reconnect with the external world and ride my bike (my latest obsession, picked up during the lockdown)!”
Chitra NayakInfosys appoints former Salesforce executive as independent director
Infosys has appointed Chitra Nayak as an independent director. The ex-Salesforce executive’s induction is effective March 25, 2021, is for a period of three years, subject to shareholder’s approval and is based on the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Infosys Board. She is an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in the go-to-market, general management and operations leadership roles with multiple organisations. Most recently, she was the Chief Operating Officer (COO), heading the go-to-market strategy at Comfy, a real-estate tech startup. She has held leadership roles at Salesforce for eight years as COO, Platform, and as Senior VP with its Global Sales Development. She is also the co-founder of Neythri.org that supports professional women in South Asia. In previous roles, she was the COO at Funding Circle, an online SMB (small and mid-size business) lending marketplace. She is currently a board member at multiple firms that includes Invitae, a medical genetics company; Morneau Shepell, a tech-enabled HR services company; Forward Air Corporation, a freight and logistics company; and Intercom, a messaging platform company. A startup advisor on go-to-market strategies, Chitra brings in her Silicon Valley expertise along with a deep understanding of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) through her thought leadership and engagement with several forums-focused on diversity, inclusion and climate change.
Annapurna VishwanathanAnnapurna Vishwanathan quits Hindustan Coca-Cola
Annapurna Vishwanathan quits her role as Head of Digital at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) that she has been heralding over two years, to join Cummins India as Chief Information Officer (CIO). In her new role with Cummins, Annapurna will be responsible for IT and technologies, in supporting its business operations and other important functions. Bengaluru-based Annapurna has over 15 years of experience in managing technology, software development, and digital transformations. In her earlier job profiles, she has had a decade long association with GE, where she was a member of GE’s digital business leadership team in India, as part of building GE’s digital hub. At GE, she was engaged with global IT leaders in exploring outsourcing opportunities and also enable building those capabilities in the Indian digital hub. She has extensively worked on a global platform on key GE work scopes into IT security, procurement integrations, and implementation of treasury controls and across Oracle procurement platforms.
Umang VohraVohra re-joins Cipla as MD and Global CEO
Pharmaceutical major Cipla Limited has re-appointed Umang Vohra as Managing Director (MD) and Global Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) for five years, effective from 1st April, 2021. Umang Vohra joined Cipla Limited in 2015 and was the MD and GCEO of the company since September, 2016. His priorities include Cipla’s strategic growth, defining and executing the company’s roadmap in maintaining momentum in home markets while strengthening its presence in other regions. Vohra’s competencies would also include consolidating Cipla’s core areas and augmenting capabilities. Vohra is known to follow leadership by action and is a firm believer in the power of agile business models, data-driven analytics, disruptive technologies, and a future-ready workforce that makes ample difference to the lives of patients. In his previous stints while working across India and the U.S., he has built his two-decade long career with a deep understanding and experience of various aspects of the global pharmaceutical business. An engineering, marketing and finance professional, Vohra’s has also worked with Eicher Motors, PepsiCo and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
Manesh Mahatme
Amazon Pay’s Mahatme to lead WhatsApp’s digital payments service
WhatsApp has roped in Amazon Pay’s Manesh Mahatme to lead its India payments business as the messenger service gears up to expand its wings in the booming payments services sector. Mahatme quits his role as a director with Amazon Pay having been associated with the company for almost seven years where he led a team of senior product engineers and business development managers. Digital payments has swiftly gained inroads in India as a sector, which PwC and ASSOCHAM – the Indian industry body predicts to be worth $135 billion (Rs.9,78,530 crore) by 2023. Mahatme who is considered as a hardcore payments professional, is expected to be the missing link for WhatsApp’s digital payments division in a bid to leverage its over 500 million users. Despite a much delayed entry in launching its payments system in India last year, WhatsApp’s rollout has been capped by regulators at 20 million users. However, as part of its ambitious plans and the recent deal by Facebook last year to invest $5.7 billion in Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms digital unit, is likely to enable WhatsApp to offer payments services to millions of mom-and-pop stores too. WhatsApp also has plans to deepen its partnership with banks where it proposes to offer financial services such as pensions and insurance.
Vinod Bhat
Vinod Bhat moves from TCS to Vistara as CIO
Vinod Bhat joins Vistara as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO) and will report to Leslie Thng, CEO, Tata SIA Airlines Limited, operating as Vistara. Bhatt replaces Ravinder Pal Singh who had left the company in January 2021. Bhat on-boards the airline sector having had a three-decade long successful stint with IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), as its Director of Global Business - Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG): Director of UK, Irish and European Delivery Centres. He will bring in his knowledge domain in multiple areas, essential for digital as well as business transformations while also improving overall operational excellence. With his induction into the airline services, the company is looking at enabling advancements in their IT infrastructure as well as innovations that are expected to enhance Vistara’s experience for their customers and employees. Bhat is an engineering graduate from Hyderabad University with a BA from the University of Kashmir. Vistara has a fleet of 45 aircraft, including six Boeing 737-800NG and two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner besides 35 Airbus A320s and two Airbus A321neo.