IMF’s Kalpana Kochhar to join Gates Foundation
Kalpana Kochhar, noted Indian economist and Head - Human Resources (HR) at the IMF (International Monetary Fund, will join as Director of Development Policy and Finance, at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, post her retirement on July 30, 2021. The Chennai-born Kalpana has her lineage in Andhra Pradesh and spent most of her early life in India. She has rendered over three decades of service across various senior positions during her tenure with the IMF. As Director HR, she was responsible for IMF’s HR policies, involving recruitment and retention of more than 4,000 IMF employees from around 150 countries across Washington D.C and overseas offices. The past five years saw her review and modernise IMF’s compensation and benefits programme, by successfully implementing IMF’s large human capital management IT system. As Deputy Director in the Asia and Pacific Department (APD), she enabled setting up and executing IMF’s Asia strategy which also included guiding analytical work and policy advice to suitable Asian countries in promoting economic growth, financial stability, and gender equality. As Deputy Director in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (SPR), she led research and policy formulation on gender equity, income inequality, jobs and growth, and structural reforms including a comprehensive review of the IMF’s surveillance policy and practices aimed at member countries. She also served as Assistant Director and Senior Personnel Manager in IMF’s Research Department. In between her Fund positions, Kochhar was deputed as Chief Economist for the South Asia Region, with the World Bank for two years. Kochhar began her journey as an economist at the IMF in 1988. Prior to joining IMF, she was an Assistant Professor at the George Washington University. An accomplished author, her research on Asia, gender, and a variety of development issues features amongst IMF’s working papers, including the widely circulated Finance and Development magazine, IMF.
Adar PoonawallaAdar Poonawalla takes charge at Magma Fincorp
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), takes over as the new Chairman at Magma Fincorp Limited, a Mumbai-based non-deposit taking non-banking finance company (NBFC). The move is part of a series of leadership changes following Poonawalla-controlled Rising Sun Holdings acquiring a majority stake through an equity infusion of Rs.3,456 crore. With the second wave of Covid-19 expected to gradually subside, the new management is keen on driving its business accelerators. The rebranding of the company as a Poonawalla Group firm is also underway. The company’s cost of funds is expected to fall in line with the industry best, while improving its credit rating and progress under the ‘Poonawalla’ mantle. Accordingly, the balance sheet has been strengthened through the equity infusion route. Magma has also appointed Abhay Bhutada as the Managing Director and Vijay Deshwal, a seasoned banker, to take charge as its CEO. Deshwal will also be the Group CEO of Poonawalla Group’s financial services business.
T V NarendranT V Narendran succeeds Uday Kotak as CII-President
T V Narendran, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited, has taken up office as President of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for 2021-22, succeeding Uday Kotak, Managing Director and CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited. This strengthens his long association with CII at the State, Regional and National level. He was the Chairman of CII Eastern Region during 2016-17 and has led CII National Committees on Leadership and Human Resources besides being Chairman of CII Jharkhand. In other appointments, Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv Limited, is now the CII-President Designate and Pawan Munjal, Chairman and CEO, Hero MotoCorp Ltd., has been named as CII-Vice President for 2021-22. An alumnus of IIM Calcutta and NIT Trichy, Narendran is also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of XLRI Jamshedpur and the Vice President of the Indian Institute of Metals. He was a member on the Board of the World Steel Association and is a member of its Executive Committee. He was the co-chair of the Mining & Metals Governors Council of the World Economic Forum from 2016 to 2018.
Aymar de Liedekerke BeaufortBeaufort to helm BNP Paribas India operations
BNP Paribas, the French lender has elevated veteran Aymar de Liedekerke Beaufort as head of its India operations, effective September 2021. He succeeds Franciska Decuypere who will be relocating to Europe to take on a senior role within BNP. In his expanded role, Beaufort will drive the company’s group strategy within its India operations and enable clients in tapping the entire range of BNP Paribas’s solutions across their global network. While Beaufort retains his role as head of corporate and institutional banking, he will also oversee local governance and controls with initiatives related to Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Finance. His role also involves heading the brokerage firm Sharekhan, and the Global Capability Centres that operate as a back office for the lender’s global operations. A veteran for 30 years, Beaufort has been at the helm of BNP’s corporate and institutional banking verticals since December 2019 as chief executive, BNP Paribas India SA that comprises of eight corporate and institutional branches. His previous stints with the bank was as the head of territory Vietnam, head of the country for Hungary and Southeastern Europe as well as Country Head for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He was deputy head of corporate and transaction banking Europe, and also was in charge of corporate coverage and transaction banking in Germany. BNP which acquired the brokerage Sharekhan, is the second-oldest multinational bank in the country operating for around 160 years, having invested around Euro 1.4 billion in India.
Rajesh NambiarRajesh Nambiar replaces Cognizant’s Frank Malcom as President - DBT
Rajesh Nambiar, Executive Vice President and Chairman of Cognizant India, has taken over as President - Digital Business and Technology (DB&T), succeeding Malcolm Frank. Frank will be relinquishing 16 years of his journey with Cognizant as Nambiar steps into his shoes. Nambiar will also continue in his role as chairman, Cognizant India and being based in India is expected to bring added benefit of driving better DB&T alignment with delivery for the company. Frank meanwhile, will remain with the company through his retirement date of September 1, 2021, to assist the transition processes with his tenure as an executive officer ceasing to exist with effect from June 4, 2021. Prior to Cognizant, Nambiar had a stint with networking, systems and software company - Ciena, where he served as the Chairman and President of its India operations. In previous roles, he also worked with IBM and Tata Consultancy Services.
Dr Aparna HegdeAparna Hegde amongst ‘World’s 50 greatest leaders’
Dr Aparna Hegde, the founder of the India-based non-profit ARMMAN, has found mention along with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and activist Malala Yousafzai in Fortune’s illustrious listing of one of the ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’. At 15th position, she is one amongst the only two Indians on the prestigious list featuring achievers who had stepped up their resolve in responding to the pandemic in the most unexpected of crisis. An internationally renowned Urogynecologist, TED Fellow, social entrepreneur and a published researcher, her NGO ARMMAN adapted its extensive technology platform and expertise and within a week to launch four Covid-19 interventions in supporting pregnant women, children and health workers. The pan-India free Virtual OPD (clinic) has provided over 14,000 pregnant women and children with free consultations with paediatricians and obstetricians via a toll-free number. 300,000 women living in Mumbai’s urban slums have been sent weekly automated voice calls (and text messages) on critical Covid-19-related information in the local language directly onto their mobile phones. Free call-centre support along with a data bank also linked over 60,000 pregnant women and children with essential health services and facilities. ARMMAN has also sent critical information through calls/text messages to 800,000 healthcare workers, in partnership with the government.
Omar Sherief MohammadRoche Diabetes appoints Omar Sherief as Head – India and IMEA
Omar Sherief Mohammad takes over as Head India, the Middle East & Africa (IMEA) at Roche Diabetes Care (RDC) Global Commercial rganisation, and will be designing a patient-centric approach in addressing the diabetes burden in the region. As the head of IMEA, Omar is expected to steer these countries, enhance its patient-centric approach and collaborate with stakeholders to check on the burden of diabetes in the region. To be based out of Mumbai, he will have a direct oversight of IMEA while the RDC General Managers and Country Heads of these markets directly report to him. He will play a key role in shaping and executing the overall commercial go-to-market strategy, responsible for strategic manoeuvres for IMEA, in sync with the Global Commercial Organisation as well as the overall RDC strategy. Prior to his new role, Omar was the General Manager RDC India since 2019 and will continue in this portfolio along with his new role. He has had nearly two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, and in particular in diabetes care, in India, into global marketing in Denmark and in emerging Asian markets. Before joining Roche, he was Vice President and General Manager at Novo Nordisk, Vietnam and its emerging markets in Southeast Asia.
Digital giants name respective grievance officers
Paresh B Lal has been named as WhatsApp’s Grievance Officer for India on its website. Likewise, Google’s ‘Contact Us’ page shows details of Joe Grier as a contact person with its address from Mountain View, USA. Google’s page also contains details on YouTube’s grievance redressal mechanism. Consequently, Facebook has designated Spoorthi Priya as its Grievance Officer for India. The move follows the Central Governments’ directive on its recent IT rules that require social media intermediaries, especially, those with 50 lakh users to appoint a Grievance Officer, nodal officer and a Chief Compliance Officer to carry out grievance compliance. They are mandated to be residents in India. The new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and will offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal. WhatsApp’s website has instructed users to contact Paresh B Lal - the ‘Grievance Officer’-through a post box in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, Telangana. Following in the footsteps are large digital companies like Google and Facebook who have begun updating their websites to inform appointment of grievance officers, on their website, app or both, with their contact details as well as the mechanism by which a user or a victim may lodge a complaint. Under the new rules, social media companies will have to take down flagged content within 36 hours, and remove content that is flagged for nudity, pornography within 24 hours. The large platforms have to publish monthly periodic compliance reports, mentioning the details of complaints received and the action taken, and the number of specific communication links or parts of information that the intermediary has removed or disabled in accordance to any proactive monitoring conducted that uses automated tools or other viable reasons.
Rupinder Singh SodhiAmul’s Sodhi elected to the International Dairy board
Rupinder Singh Sodhi (R S Sodhi), Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), that sells dairy and food products under the Amul brand, has been unanimously elected to the board of the International Dairy Federation (IDF). Commemorating World Milk Day on June 1, the General Assembly of IDF unanimously elected Sodhi, who has in his 39 years with Amul, led the milk procurement sector in India to exemplary levels. Sodhi believes that India’s cooperative approach constitutes an essential strategy by which millions of dairy farmers are empowered to sustain in a level playing field for a fair share of the value of milk. “Dairying is the growth engine of our farm sector”, said Sodhi. Sodhi is an alumnus of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). He joined GCMMF (Amul) in 1982 post his course completion from IRMA. GCMMF is India’s largest dairy cooperative with an annual turnover of 39,238 crores in 2020-21. IDF is an international non-governmental, non-profit association and represents the global dairy sector. The federation ensures that the right policies, standards, practices and regulations monitor the production of dairy products globally. It has over 1,200 qualified dairy experts in 43 member countries.