Ajay Piramal sells stake, to demerge pharma business

Pharma sector doyen, Ajay Piramal’s Piramal Enterprises Ltd will offload 20% stake in its pharmaceutical unit to U.S. based Carlyle Group Inc for about $490million (INR 36,570.65 crore). It is estimated that the conclusion of the stake sale may boost the value of the Piramal Group’s overall pharma business to approximately $2.5 billion. The global private equity major, Carlyle group’s intention to buy a significant stake in the Ajay Piramal owned pharma unit falls in line with Piramal’s current strategy of demerging its pharma businesses from the flagship Piramal Enterprises Ltd into a new entity. In the proposed new and demerged entity, 20% stake will rest with the Carlyle group and possibly another private equity investor, at least 25% is slated to be owned by the public and the balance stake will be vested with the promoters. The stake sale is expected to fulfil the group’s larger plan to demerge all pharma businesses, bring them under a single subsidiary and, eventually, list it on the exchanges.

Piramal’s proposed announcement to sell a noteworthy stake to the Carlyle group concludes Piramal Group’s discussions with several potential investors for a stake sale in its pharma business over the past few months. Piramal Pharma will use this fresh capital infusion to mobilise its organic and inorganic growth plans.

Amit Agarwal Joins Raymond As CFO

Raymond has appointed Amit Agarwal as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and will replace Sanjay Bahl who has since stepped down from his position. Agarwal quit his previous role as CEO of Jindal Coated Steel Products prior to joining the Raymond group. He has assumed his new role with effect from July 2020 and joins the company at a crucial juncture amidst the Covid-19 crisis and also when the group is undergoing its de-merger process leading to the formation of two separate entities. A veteran CFO, Agarwal has had previous successful innings working for distinguished and large corporations like Arcelor Mittal, Essar Steel, Suzlon and also with Jet Airways functioning as the CFO of the airlines and also as its’ acting CEO. Meanwhile, ex-CFO Bahl, who was associated with Raymond for about five years, will continue his association with the fabrics and garment major as an advisor for another six months during the leadership transition period. Bahl was instrumental in facilitating the sale of a part of the company's Thane land and also strategising the demerger of the group's lifestyle business into a separate legal entity.

COAI appoints Airtel’s Puri as Chairman, Kochhar as DG

Ajai Puri, CEO (chief operating officer), Bharti Airtel ((India and South Asia) has taken over as Chairman of the COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India). Puri has been with Bharti Airtel since 2004 and replaces Ravinder Takkar, CEO Vodafone for the new role. COAI, the telecom industry body in its Annual General Body Meeting for the Financial Year 2019-20, announced Puri’s leadership tenure for the 2020-21 term and also appointed Pramod Kumar Mittal, President, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited as Vice-chairman, for the same period. These appointments are conducted on a rotation basis. Airtel’s Puri has in the past helmed affairs across leader positions including Director for Market Operations and as Director and CEO, DTH (direct to home). While Mittal has previously held position as senior Deputy Director General in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), this is Reliance Jio’s maiden entry into any leadership position with the COAI. Mittal brings in his 42 years of experience with the telecommunications sector. In another significant move, COAI has appointed Lt. Gen. S P Kochhar as its DG (Director General) as Rajan S Mathews steps down from his role after a decade of service with the COAI. Lt. Gen. Kochhar, is a decorated military veteran, who retired as Signal Officer in Chief, and as the head of the ICT wing of the Indian Army, where he planned, executed operated all Telecom and IT networks for the Indian Army. He was also Additional DG in charge of HR and Empowerment for the 11 lakh strong Indian Army. He recently relinquished his role as the CEO of the Telecom Sector Skill Council of India.

GAIL India appoints new leaders

GAIL Gas Limited has appointed M V Ravi Someswarudu as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who takes over from A K Jana, who quit GAIL to join Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) as the current Managing Director. In another move, E S Ranganathan takes charge as Director (Marketing), GAIL India Limited. Someswarudu with his diverse experiences of over 34 years in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical Sectors, has worked across functions like operations and maintenance, project development, process design and engineering, technical services, design of pipelines and gas processing plants, technology selection and R&D. He has also been instrumental in the Exploration & Production, Petrochemical Group at GAIL corporate office while also holding additional responsibility for the project development department. He significantly played a role in formalising policies and procedures across various divisions of the company and also successfully conceptualised and stepped up LNG Terminal projects in India. A firm believer in leveraging technology for business solutions, Ranganathan played a pioneering role in using technology towards SMART working in the field of O&M and project Management. With close to 35 years of diverse experience in the oil and gas domain, he is an expert in project execution along with operation and maintenance of natural gas pipelines. A stalwart in the field of marketing and distribution, business development and business information systems comprising of engineering and planning, process management, resource and schedule management technology up-gradation, vendor management and quality assurance.

Biocon Chief demands access to asymptomatic Covid testing

Industry veteran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Ltd, has criticised the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in their approach for "not permitting" testing of asymptomatic individuals, saying that people have the right to know their Covid-19 infection status whether positive or negative. She asserted that given the size of India, the expected rise in a number of cases was evitable post the opening up of the economy, after the Covid-19-induced nationwide lockdown. With businesses opening up at Biocon’s offices and plants, she wants to make sure that employees returning to their campuses are free of Covid-19. "...Some of them might be positive, some of them might be carriers, some of them might be supercarriers. How do I know? Why are they (ICMR) preventing us from testing? I don’t understand. Everywhere in the world, they are allowing testing," said Kiran Mazumdar. She has suggested categorising Covid-19 cases into mild, moderate, and severe which can help manage hospital beds better. “Asymptomatic testing has to be freed up. And hospitals have to manage patients in a triage way so that they don't get overwhelmed. You can’t say that every positive case has to land up in hospitals,” said Mazumdar. She also suggested on contact tracing and other methods to map a person's risk profile by tracking mode of public transportation, the frequency of travel to work, number of people at the workplace and also note if they suffer from other ailments like diabetes, hypertension, among other factors. "Public workers, particularly bus drivers and conductors and delivery service personnel, should be tested as they come in touch with people so much," she said.

Ex-ICICI’s Ramakrishnan to head South Indian Bank

Ex-ICICI banking honcho, Murali Ramakrishnan will take over as the next Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB). The retired ICICI bank executive is seen as the first choice as per the board of directors of SIB, pending approval from the Reserve Bank of India in their plans to replace V G Mathew, the current MD & CEO who is scheduled to step down as his term is due to expire on September 30, 2020. If the proposal goes through, Ramakrishnan will become the first MD & CEO from a private sector lender organisation to be onboarding the Thrissur based bank. Ramakrishnan has already joined the bank as an advisor from July 1, 2020, and his appointment will be contrary to SIB’s history where most of its top bosses have been ex-employees of public sector lenders, especially the State Bank of India. As per the existing RBI norms, the SIB will be submitting its application to the apex bank with the names of the candidates in the order of preference, seeking approval for the appointment of the new MD & CEO, as V G Mathew’s successor. Ramakrishnan retired earlier this year from ICICI Bank after a tenure of more than two decades during which he helmed ICICI’s businesses in his capacity as the Chief Executive of North Asia (Hong Kong & China), Middle East, Sri Lanka and Africa regions; managing a balance-sheet of around $20 billion. An IIM (Bangalore) alumni, he held pivotal roles as the Head (Credit Risk), Head (Policy, Risk & BIU) and also lead four other business groups for ICICI - cluster banking group, emerging clusters group, professional equipment finance and construction equipment finance.

Facebook expands its India leadership stage

In a strategic hiring spree, Facebook (FB), has expanded its India leadership platform with three crucial appointments that of Francis Jose, Paras Sharma, and Manohar Hotchandani to enhance growth and collaboration within its India team. The social networking platform, has appointed Francis Jose, as the Director of Mobile & Connectivity Partnerships (India), Paras Sharma as the Director for Media Partnerships for India and Manohar Hotchandani as Director, Business Development with multiple prospects and a special focus on growing its Gaming, Commerce, AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) platforms. All the three new Facebook executives will report to Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India. The new appointments will strategically strengthen its India team across multiple verticals such as telecom, technology and media, and entertainment in India. The aim is to build inroads into strategic business collaborations and initiatives in supporting Facebook’s India growth plans. Francis will drive commitments across the telecom, ISP (internet service provider) and mobile devices sector in India. In his 21 years of career graph, Francis has worked across the spectrum of network engineering, sales & distribution, business development, strategic partner management with clients and stakeholders for growth in market strategies and user base. He quit Samsung India Electronics to join FB. He’s also had previous stints with Blackberry, Airtel, Reliance Communications and with Aptech & BPL Mobile. Sharma brings in 23 years of experience with global media companies like ESPN Star Sports, Fox International Channels and Viacom CBS Asia and will lead the news, entertainment, sports and music verticals for both Facebook and Instagram. Hotchandani’s 25 years’ of experience across business development, ecosystem creation and management and P&L management with Microsoft and Amazon, is expected to steer FB’s opportunities, in growing its Gaming, Commerce, AR and VR segments. He quit Amazon where he led the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) business.

Sanjay Raghuraman

Kalyan Jewellers expands its board, ropes in sector stalwarts

Kalyan Jewellers, the T. S. Kalyanaraman led, jewellery manufacturer distributors, has appointed Sanjay Raghuraman as its first chief executive officer (CEO). The Kerala based jewellery showroom chain has also inducted Salil Nair as non-executive director and Anil Nair as an independent director on its board. Raghuraman began his journey with Kalyan Jewellers in 2012, when the company had just begun accelerating its growth by expanding operations beyond Southern Indian cities. He headed Operations at HDB Financial Services Limited prior to joining Kalyan Jewellers. In the current board expansion, the inclusion of Salil and Anil Nair has added retail and marketing expertise to its already existing four independent directors with banking and financial sector know hows. With over 30 years of experience, that includes a successful stint as CEO of Shopper’s Stop, Salil Nair is an expert in retail management, while Anil Nair with his 24 year-long association in the advertising industry has had significant stints as CEO and managing partner at L&K Saatchi & Saatchi and as a member of the global leadership team of Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann and DDB.

L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, rejigs its planning team

Part of the Publicis Groupe, communications agency L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, has roped in Anuraag Shrivastav as VP Planning and Shalaka Pradhan as brand strategy director. The appointments to its planning team is to overcome the challenge of interpreting the mood of the consumers in a market that has been redefined by Covid-19 outbreak. As part of their new role, both Shrivastav and Pradhan will report to Snehasis Bose, Executive Director of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India. Shrivastav is expected to mobilise brand strategy, build strong relationships with clients, and also manage and lead the internal strategy team, he will be based out of New Delhi. Shrivastav was senior brand planning director at FCB Ulka before joining L&K Saatchi & Saatchi. In previous roles, Shrivastava has significant stints working with illustrious agencies Enormous Brands and J Walter Thompson around brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Horlicks, Domino’s, Vistara, National Geographic, OLX, Motorola, Dish TV, Quaker, Aquafina, Hero group etc. Pradhan quit her previous role as Brand Director Publicis India and will be based out of Bengaluru. Prior to Publicis, she has also worked with Creativeland Asia, FCB Ulka, Cogito Consulting and Grey India. Some of the brands she has been actively involved with are Nivea, Zee Café, Zee Marathi, Lakmé, Havmor, etc.

Fabindia onboards ex-Indigo boss Aditya Ghosh

Fabindia Group has appointed Aditya Ghosh, former President of Indigo airlines as a member on the company’s board of directors. Aditya will be the guiding force for managing Fabindia’s teams for a new strategy and business development. The company operates 327 stores across 118 cities in India and 14 international stores and sells a wide range of products exclusively produced by rural artisans. Fabindia is looking to increase its business margins in anticipation of new consumer behaviour post Covid and has roped in Ghosh for managing growth and ushering in a new strategy to strengthen its earth-friendly sustainable business. Ghosh has had successful stints in his previous career graph, best known for his roles as the CEO and board member of large consumer facing complex businesses, including OYO Hotels and Homes and IndiGo airlines. The seasoned professional with over 22 years of experience and a former lawyer turned corporate executive, has been given the credit for the primary role he has played in making IndiGo a successful budget airliner. He is also a board member of the Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre, that aims to transform the delivery of justice, especially in the areas of commercial disputes.

Prabhu Agarwal steps in as NIIT President

Prabhu Aggarwal has taken over as President of NIIT University (NU) and succeeds Prof VS Rao, whose tenure ended in June, this year. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur (Mechanical Engineering), Agarwal pursued Operations Management, finishing his MBA in due course and a PhD. from the University of Washington, Seattle, US. He brings in leadership skills spanning over three decades, having invested a greater part of his learning at the Mason School of Business, College of William & Mary, Virginia, USA where he led the Centre for Professional Development Programs for working professionals. He has had his research published in leading academic and practitioner journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, IIE Transactions, Journal of International Technology and Information Management, and International Journal of Production Economics.