Veteran Sanjiv Kapoor to take reins as CEO, Jet Airways

Aviation veteran, Sanjiv Kapoor, will take over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jet Airways under its new promoters, the Jalan Kalrock Consortium. He has stepped down from his role as the President of Oberoi Hotels and Resorts. Jet Airways has been grounded since April 17, 2019, and is set to re-launch in May 2022. An experienced aviation professional, Kapoor is expected to lead Jet Airways and revive its past laurels as a full-service carrier. Prior to the Oberoi Group, he was the Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer at Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airline Joint Venture. From 2016 to 2019, he was SpiceJet’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and its de facto CEO from November 2013 to October 2015. Market watchers hint that Kapoor, passionate about the sector, is looking forward to getting back to aviation. The seasoned professional has had an illustrious 25 years in diverse capacities across budget carriers SpiceJet and GoAir and with Vistara. At Vistara, he grew the airline to 38 aircraft and over 200 flights a day, starting with nine aircraft and 40 flights a day. At Vistara, Kapoor oversaw strategy, product development, network, marketing, other commercial functions, cabin and ground services, and the overall operational controls. During his tenure with SpiceJet, the carrier reduced its losses by 50% and reached 23% market share, but the subsequent cash crunch led to its eventual change in ownership. Kapoor had had an interesting stint with the Bangladesh-based GMG Airlines in November 2013, before joining SpiceJet and helmed GMG when oil prices were at a record high. He started his aviation career in the US in 1997 with Northwest Airlines (now merged with Delta) and managed the company’s finance and corporate planning. In 2004, he joined Bain & Company’s airline practise in Singapore, moving on to their offices in Dallas and London. With an MBA from the Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) and a B.A. in Computer Science and Government from Dartmouth College, he has also had previous stints with Temasek Holdings (Singapore) and BCG.

Pratik Pota

Pratik Pota, CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks quits

Pratik Rashmikant Pota has stepped down as the CEO and whole-time Director of Jubilant FoodWorks, which holds Domino’s pizza chain and Dunkin Donuts outlet franchises in India. The Board of Directors of Jubilant FoodWorks have accepted Pota’s resignation, and also initiated identifying his successor. As Pota pursues an external opportunity, he will continue to hold his current role until June 15, 2022. In his tweet, Pota wrote that “I will be moving on from Jubilant FoodWorks in June. I have spent five extremely fulfilling & eventful years here and am immensely grateful for the support & trust of the Board, the JFL team & all other stakeholders.” Pota had joined Jubilant FoodWorks in 2017 and held credit for turning around the company. He had succeeded Ajay Kaul as the CEO when the company struggled with sluggish margins with their Domino’s franchise. He has over 24 years of experience working in the FMCG and telecom sectors. Before his stint with Jubilant FoodWorks, Pota has held diverse leadership roles with Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and PepsiCo. He is an alumnus of the BITS Pilani and the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta. Pota invested in product upgrades with new crust ideas, liberal amounts of cheese, other toppings, newly imported sauce, and a noticeably-pleasing packaging. He relaunched the pizza franchise with superior offerings across India at the same price points. As per a report by ICICI Securities, “He (Pota) changed the strategy from deep discounts (day-based discounts) to offering consumers assured value and low prices every day (daily value), shifting the consumption pattern from occasional to spontaneous leading to an increase in buying frequency among existing consumers and also helped acquire new consumers."

Madhabi Puri

Madhabi Puri becomes SEBI’s first woman chairperson

Madhabi Puri Buch has taken charge as the first woman chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial term of three years. Her appointment makes her the youngest and first woman bureaucrat to chair the market’s regulator. In April 2017, she claimed another first when she became the only woman whole-time member at SEBI. Her tenure as a whole-time director was for four-and-a-half years and ended in October 2021, and she was subsequently named as the head of SEBI’s secondary market committee in December 2021. Within three months, she has become the first woman chairperson of the stock market regulator SEBI, succeeding Ajay Tyagi, who completed his five-year term as the SEBI Chief. In another first, Madhabi became the first private sector individual and the first non-IAS individual since 2002 to helm SEBI. A finance stalwart, Madhabi brings in three decades of financial sector experience to her key crucial role in SEBI. Prior to SEBI, she---joined ICICI Bank as a Project Finance Analyst in 1989 and was with the company until 1992. She re-joined ICICI Bank in 1997 and became the Executive Director in 2006, and eventually served as the CEO of ICICI Securities between 2009-2011. Her stint with ICICI entailed working across functions as the Head of Marketing and Sales, Head of Product Development, Head of Operations, and the Head of Brand Marketing. Madhabi was also the Head of Business Development at the private equity firm Greater Pacific Capital in Singapore and deputed as a consultant for New Development Bank, Shanghai. She has also held non-executive director roles in Max Healthcare, Zensar Technologies and Innoven Capital. She is the founder of the consulting and incubation firm, Agora Advisory. She was among the handful and privileged few groomed by veteran banker KV Kamath, the founder and former CEO of ICICI Bank. Madhabi is an alum of Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.

Eveready inducts Saha as MD, while promoters juggle stakes

Suvamoy Saha

In a strategic twist, Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL) has promoted Suvamoy Saha as the MD for three years. Currently, Saha has been a non-executive director on the board since May 2020. Saha cuts an interesting journey with EIIL as he had previously had a 36-year stint before exiting the company in 2019. Saha held the position of whole-time director from March 2005 until he departed from EIIL in July 2019. Saha, who has been the joint managing director, will succeed the company’s promoter Amritanshu Khaitan, as both Amritanshu and non-executive chairman Aditya Khaitan have resigned following an open offer from the Burmans to relinquish a part of the Khaitan’s stake in EIIL. Saha’s induction follows a greater attempt by the Kolkata-based company to hand over the management reins to professionals and, in particular, its largest stakeholders-the Burman family of Dabur Ltd. At the end of Q3 in the current fiscal, the Khaitan’s owned a 4.84% stake, and the Burmans had 19.84%. The Burmans had made the open offer for acquiring an additional 26% share of the Khaitan’s for Rs.604.76 crore. The Burmans had made the mandatory open offer as per takeover regulations and proposed to buy an additional 5.26% share of the battery manufacturer for Rs.122.30 crore, taking their total shareholding to 25.11%

Nikhil Gupta

IOL ropes in former Stride HR Head

Nikhil Gupta has joined IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited as the President, Human Resources, and will globally enhance its people strategy. His new role takes care of its employer branding strategy, HR processes & automation, talent management, and people development. Gupta brings in 23+ years of rich HR experience across diversified sectors across world markets, including Life Sciences, Telecom, and FMCG. He has been associated with Strides as Global Head – Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding, and HR Operations in his most recent role. He has worked across diverse conglomerates in other previous roles, including Aircel, Spectranet, Jubilant Life Sciences, and Haldiram Snacks. In 2008, he joined Gurgaon-based Telenor India as Head of Talent Acquisition and HR business partnering and was instrumental in ramping up Telenor’s workforce from scratch to 3,000-plus, enabling the company’s timely commercial launch across India. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta, and kick-started his professional journey in 2000 with PCCW Global as a senior consultant. He oversaw talent acquisition for PCCW in technology and e-commerce (B2B and B2C) businesses across the Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, the Philippines, and Malaysia. In his early career phase, he also had a stint with ABC Consultants as the Head of telecom practice.

Ashwani Bhatia

SEBI appoints SBI MD as whole-time member

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has appointed Ashwani Bhatia, Managing Director, State Bank of India (SBI), as a whole-time member, (WTM) initially for three years and which has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). With Bhatia’s appointment, SEBI has only one post of the WTM left to be filled. Bhatia was due for retirement in May 2022 and was promoted as SBI’s MD in August 2020 till the date of his superannuation, which is May 31, 2022. Bhatia began his career with SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1985 and has transcended 33 years of his association with SBI across diverse roles and responsibilities in commercial banking such as forex and treasury, retail credit and liability, and corporate credit. He led SBI in revamping its entire credit structure and processes. In previous roles, he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of SBI Capital Markets and the Managing Director and CEO, SBI Mutual Fund.

Prabha Narasimhan

Colgate-Palmolive India ropes in Prabha Narasimhan

Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd has appointed Prabha Narasimhan as its new MD and CEO, effective September 1, 2022. An FMCG stalwart and the former Executive Director, Home Care (HC) for Hindustan Unilever Limited and Vice President, HC, Unilever, South Asia, recently stepped down to take on her new role with Colgate-Palmolive. Prabha succeeds Ram Raghavan, promoted as the President, Enterprise Oral Care for the parent Colgate-Palmolive Company, and based in New York. Raghavan will resign from his current MD and CEO role with Colgate-Palmolive India. Prabha brings in over 23 years of experience across Consumer Marketing Insights, Customer Development, and Marketing roles across diverse geographies (South Asia & NAME) and categories (Beauty & Personal Care and Refreshment). She has been associated with HUL from 2016 to 2019, and her leadership enabled HUL’s Skin Care business to deliver a high market growth rate. She strengthened the performance delivery across all brands and sub-segments, including their Colours business and its flagship brand Glow & Lovely and HUL’s newer Skin Care segments. She moved to the Home Care division in early 2020. She is an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore(IIM-B) and the Melbourne Business School (Exchange-Marketing).

HUL onboards Rao and Subramanian, rejigs senior management

Deepak Subramanian

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has added two key appointments, appointing Madhusudhan Rao and Deepak Subramanian to its management committee. Rao will be Executive Director, Beauty and Wellbeing and Personal Care, while Subramanian as the Executive Director will be in charge of home care for HUL. Rao succeeds Priya Nair, who will be transitioning to a more global role as the Chief Marketing Officer for beauty and well-being. Subramanian succeeds Prabha Narasimhan, who is pursuing an external opportunity. Rao began his HUL journey in 1991 and is currently the executive vice president of home and hygiene, Unilever. Having spent over three decades with the company, Rao has steered marketing, customer development, and brand development roles across multiple geographies. Subramanian is the current vice president, home care, South-East Asia, and ANZ (SEAA) and is the global head, fabric enhancers. He joined HUL in 1995 as a management trainee and moved up the ladder, becoming the marketing manager for HUL’s ketchup and jam brand-Kissan. Subramanian was also the regional brand director for Vitality Foods and became the Vice President for Foods and Refreshments for Central and Eastern Europe. He improved HUL’s profitability, strengthened its top-line growth, transformed the Fabric Enhancers category through innovations, and repositioned the brands for more social impacts. The new moves come soon after HUL recently split the Chairman and MD and CEO roles, appointing former CEO, Nitin Paranjpe as the new Chairman while Sanjiv Mehta retained his CEO role. The rejigs are part of global Unilever’s restructuring process that is expected to generate 600 million euros by saving cost in adopting a leaner structure. The restructuring will also help HUL re-organise its business into five distinct businesses - beauty and well-being, personal care, home care, nutrition, and ice cream. Each of these units will be headed by a business leader reporting to the top management.

Serina Fischer

Serina Fischer to steer Takeda Pharma’s India operations

Serina Fischer takes charge as the General Manager for Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited’s Indian arm Takeda India and will be responsible for all its India operations. Fischer will be Mumbai-based and will lead the company’s business in India, and ensure patients' access to the company’s innovative medicines. With over 17 years of experience in the biopharma industry, she has expertise in strategy, sales, marketing, and operations. She joined Takeda in 2017 and has taken on various leadership roles with its U.S. affiliate. She has had an illustrious career with Takeda, starting out as Head of the Neuroscience Franchise (NF) moving on the Vice President for Takeda’s NF in March 2019 in Boston. In previous stints, she has worked with Eli Lilly and Company from 2004 to 2010 and also as Director of Corporate Affairs with the Independent Capital Management and also as an office manager with the Citadel Law Corporation. She is an alumna of the California State University - Long Beach.