HDFC stalwart Deepak Parekh steps down

Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Limited has stepped down, having served the mortgage lender for 46 years. He announced his retirement ahead of the proposed merger of HDFC Ltd. with HDFC Bank, stating that June 30, 2023, would be his last working day. Parekh, 78 years, also clarified that he will not be on the bank’s board, owing to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s age restrictions. The merger between HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank, effective since July 1, has resulted in HDFC becoming the fourth largest bank globally to have taken over its parent company-HDFC, India’s first home finance company/mortgage lender. Despite his beginnings in the mortgage business, he led several diversified sectors including private equity investments in real estate and education loans. In his parting speech, he reiterated that home loans would complement HDFC Bank's core strengths including its sales engine, deep insights into consumer behaviour, and execution capabilities at scale. Parekh joined HDFC when he was 33 years, quitting his job at Chase Manhattan Bank in 1978, and built India’s iconic and one of the largest private sector housing finance companies. Parekh’s legacy includes making five companies public and HDFC’s role in providing nine million Indians with home loans under his leadership. Considered a gentle giant of a man, he has been a constant inspiration to budding entrepreneurs and seasoned business leaders alike. His first offer letter at HDFC Bank has gone viral recently, which dates back to July 19, 1978, detailing his salary and employment contract terms. He joined as Deputy General Manager, with a basic salary of Rs 3,500, which included a Rs 500 fixed dearness allowance. He has been the go-to person for regulators and administration on controversies on governance issues.

Airtel’s Chitkara steps down, triggers top deck rejig

Ajay Chitkara, CEO of Bharti Airtel Business has decided to exit the company, after his long association with the telecom giant for the last 23 years. His exit has triggered a leadership rejig at the top deck. He will continue with the telecom giant until the third week of August 2023. The company consequently plans to operate its business via channel segments, which are - Global Business, to be led by Vani Venkatesh, the Domestic Business to be steered by Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, and the Nxtra data centres to be led by Ashish Arora. Chitkara joined Airtel in 2001 as Sales Manager, fulfilling several crucial roles in the company in his long innings with the telecom giant. Chitkara has been responsible for enhancing the Airtel brand across the global wholesale segment. Before he was appointed CEO of the Airtel Business, Chitkara was the Director and CEO of Global Business and Nxtra. He has been credited for building and implementing the company’s business strategies for carriers, global enterprises, and OTT segments. It was under Chitkara’s leadership, that Airtel’s Global Business reached new heights, becoming a billion-dollar business. He is on the board of the Airtel Nxtra data centre. An alumnus of the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, and the Harvard Business School (HBS), he attended HBS’s global leadership programme and strategic management.

Diageo’s Ruchira Jaitly promoted as CMO

Ruchira Jaitly takes over as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Diageo India as Deepika Warrier steps down from the role. Ruchira, who is the current Executive Vice President (EVP) – Marketing, has been promoted as the CMO and she is expected to steer Diageo India’s accelerated innovation and sustainable strategies. Ruchira will take charge as CMO, effective August 1, 2023. Both Deepika and Ruchira are PepsiCo veterans. Ruchira’s 23+ years of corporate experience includes strategy, sales, marketing, innovation, start-up, impact business creation, and market consumer and customer engagement across top brands at Unilever and Pepsico India, Royal DSM, and HMD Global (Nokia phones). She kick-started her career with Unilever, as a management trainee in 1997, worked in sales in challenging areas of Western UP and Rajasthan in their personal care products, and gradually grew into roles exemplifying brand activation and strategy, including roles across the hair care category. Ruchira built iconic PepsiCo brands in India, and as Senior Director of Marketing for PepsiCo Beverages, she managed the entire portfolio, delivering Pepsi IPL in 2014, one of the biggest consumer activations for Pepsi ever seen in India and the Middle East. She has helped sustained iconic brands including Kurkure and Mountain Dew, and created consumer campaigns (Crash the Pepsi IPL, Kurkure launch, and Lay’s Flavour World Cup). She harnessed India's energies for innovations (Nimbooz Masala Soda and Lays and Kurkure), leveraging global playbooks that uplifted brands including Pepsi, 7UP, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Lays, and Cheetos. In her formative days, she was an Exchange programme trainee with the Exchange programme, Comtec GmbH. She is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), St. Xavier’s College, holding an MSc (Microbiology) from the University of Mumbai.

Parul Sharma is Group President ADA-led Reliance Group

Parul Sharma Jesudasan, an accomplished communications strategist, joins Reliance ADA (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani) group as Group President, effective June 2023. Parul will be stepping into her late husband, Tony Jesudasan, shoes, who was the President, Corporate Communications and Corporate Affairs at the ADA-led Reliance group. A communications expert, she has steered Rupert Murdoch-owned Star India for 15 years, before which, she was based in Cologne working with the German broadcaster, ‘Deutsche Welle’. She was the Head - Corporate & Marketing Communication at Star India Pvt Ltd and their spokesperson. She brings in her prowess as a global communications strategist, and as Tony’s wife is expected to carry forward his legacy. She quit Star India in 2017, to pursue photography and has made a mark in the field. Her creative work scales architecture, urban landscapes, and the human form, and has graced exhibitions worldwide. In 2019, her work on the Kumbh Mela has been exhibited at the prestigious Florence Public Museum ‘Marino Marini’. Her 2020 book ‘Dialects of Silence’ recounts Covid deaths and the plight of migrants. Another book ‘Colaba’ is due to be launched in 2023. Tony Jesudasan has been the Reliance group’s public face for 40 years until his death in February 2023.

Tata Cliq ropes in former Shoppers Stop stalwart

Gopal Asthana has been hired as the CEO of Tata Group’s fashion business Tata CLiQ, which will operate under the Tata Digital mantle. Asthana will replace Vikas Purohit, who exited the group earlier in the year. Asthana has relinquished his role as the former Chief Business Officer (CBO) of Nykaa Fashion, and his appointment follows recent management changes across their digital space, with the departure of Shivcharan Pulugurtha, Chief Strategy and Business Officer of Tata Neu. Tata CLiQ’s move to finalise a CEO is seen as a significant development, as the portal has been rapidly growing under Tata Digital. Asthana brings 25+ years of extensive experience across strategic leadership and operational management for aligning business growth across various sectors including measuring and managing P&L, budget, and KPIs. The former Nykaa executive has had a successful stint with Shoppers Stop, having dedicated almost 21+ years across multiple verticals and roles, steering the group as Executive Vice President, Chief (Buying and Merchandising, Estee Lauder Brands, Travel Retail) until 2019. He then joined the Future Group, as Head of Beauty and Special Projects, and finally Nykaa in November 2019 and quit the e-commerce beauty platform in June 2023, to join the Tata Group. He is an engineering graduate from the Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, and an alumnus of the Indian School of Business and the ICFAI University.

Microsoft’s Maheshwari quits

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India has resigned and is leaving the firm in pursuit of other interests. His exit has triggered a top deck reshuffle, wherein Irina Ghose has been promoted to the Managing Director for India, Navtej Bal is the new Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Venkat Krishnan takes over as Executive Director of the company’s public sector business. Maheshwari brings 20+ years of experience across industries in his career scope including technology and software, industrial, and management consulting. Before joining Microsoft in 2016, he was President at Honeywell in India, and Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. He is the current Chairperson, of NASSCOM, and has served the NASSCOM's EC since 2017. Maheshwari is also the India Advisory Committee member of USIBC, a National Council member of CII, Ex Chairperson of the CII IT/ITeS committee, and a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Institute. He is an alumnus of the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

RBI appoints SBI’s Janakiraman as Deputy Governor

Swaminathan Janakiraman, Managing Director, State Bank of India (SBI), takes on as a deputy governor with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the next three years. He succeeds MK Jain, as one of the four deputy governors of the apex bank, following Jain’s retirement in June 2023. Janakiraman is expected to handle the Department of Supervision and Financial Inclusion and Development Department, amongst other portfolios, that are currently under Jain’s purview. Janakiraman brings 33 years of working knowledge with SBI, having held multiple roles across finance, corporate and international banking, retail and digital banking, branch management, and assurance functions. In previous roles, he served as Deputy Managing Director (Finance) and Chief Digital Officer, and also as with SBI’s Head of Trade at their New York branch. It was in 2001 that an SBI MD was appointed as RBI Deputy Governor. A panel consisting of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, the cabinet secretary, the financial services secretary, and the chief economic advisor interviewed the prospective candidates. Those shortlisted for the interview included Srinivasan Varadarajan, Chairman, of Union Bank of India, A S Rajeev, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Maharashtra; Soma Sankara Prasad, MD and CEO of UCO Bank; S L Jain, MD and CEO of Indian Bank, and SBI’s Swaminathan Janakiraman. RBI’s four Deputy Governors include MK Jain, MD Patra, M Rajeshwar, and T Rabi Sankar.

FlipKart Health+ CEO steps down

Prashant Jhaveri, CEO of Flipkart Health+ will be calling it quits, following a short stint of over a year with the company. Kanchan Mishra, in charge of the company’s FMCG, home, and general merchandise business will be replacing Jhaveri as the Chief Business Officer (CBO). Before joining Flipkart Health+ in March 2022, Jhaveri was CBO of Apollo Health and Lifestyle Limited, CEO of MediBuddy, and CBO for the Medi Assist Group. He kickstarted his career with Reliance Health Ventures in 2006. He is an alumnus of Penn State University (MBA), with a specialisation in Finance. In November 2021, Flipkart picked up a 75.1% stake in Kolkata-based health-tech startup SastaSundar Marketplace, operating an online pharmacy platform SastaSundar.com. After Flipkart acquired SastaSundar, it was re-branded as Flipkart Health+, currently competing with the Tata-owned 1mg, Reliance-led owned Netmeds, PharmEasy and Amazon Pharmacy.

Amanda Rajkumar, Global HR Director, Adidas quits

Amanda Rajkumar, Global HR Director, Adidas, and the company’s lone female executive board member quits, adding to the string of exodus, especially senior women from the board of the German sportswear maker. Amanda is expected to leave within the next few weeks as she has decided not to seek further extension of her three-year contract with the company, ending December 2023. The company has come under fire for its handling of diversity issues. Other global senior female managers from Adidas have lately called it quits which includes Vicky Free, Head of Global Marketing; Nicole Ghezali, Head Of Global Retail, and Céline Del Genes, who steered the specialist sports division. Female representation halved to two leadership roles, including Amanda since 2022. A British national, Amanda’s parents hail from the Caribbean Islands. She joined Adidas in January 2021 to manage an internal chaos over Adidas’s handling of racism, diversity, and inclusion. According to the Financial Times, her predecessor Karen Parkin resigned in 2020 after describing internal discussions of racism as “noise”. Before joining Adidas, Amanda held senior HR roles with BNP Paribas and JPMorgan and strived to improve diversity at Adidas. According to the Financial Times, she had fallen out with Bjørn Gulden, the new Chief Executive, over governance issues and HR priorities after the Chief Executive commanded a more direct say in HR matters.