Ajay Banga to steer World Bank as President

Ajaypal Singh Banga takes over as the 14th President of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023, replacing David Malpass. The 63-year-old corporate and banking stalwart is the current vice chairman of General Atlantic, an equity company, and becoming the first Indian-American to head the Washington-based bank. Banga will be working with the World Bank Board on their Group Evolution process, aiming to handle the development challenges facing developing countries. US President, Joe Biden, has shown faith in Banga as a transformational leader, who is expected to bring innovation, expertise, and experience to his new role. Since his nomination to the coveted position earlier in the year, Banga has been traveling the world and meeting heads of governments. He has spent 30+ years building and managing successful global companies, bringing investments to developing economies, and has been guiding organisations during their transition phases. The former Mastercard Inc. chief kicked off his illustrious career in 1981 with Nestlé, playing multiple roles in his 13 years with the company. The 2016 Padma Shri recipient has participated in the opening of PepsiCo’s international restaurant chain in India. As the World Bank president, he will also chair the board of executive directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He is a member of the Trilateral Commission, a founding trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, a former member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and Chairman Emeritus of the American India Foundation. A co-founder of the Cyber Readiness Institute, he is the Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York and was a former member of President Barack Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.

Shalini Poddar joins as Country Director of Apple Services

Shalini Poddar

Shalini Poddar joins Apple Entertainment Services as Country Director and will be responsible for quality content and services, including Apple TV+, Apple Music, and iCloud. She was the former Executive Vice President - Head of Ads Revenue and Strategy, at Disney+ Hotstar. Before joining the Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform in November 2021, she had an illustrious career working with Google for around 8+ years, as Head of Business Development, Google Play Apps for India, Southeast Asia, and Australia. As an Engagement Manager with Accenture Management Consulting, she managed multiple complex internal initiatives, clients, and teams of consultants and functioned as Strategy Counsellor to the senior management. Shalini brings almost 19 years of expertise in customer analytics, sales transformation, sales force training and change management. She is an alumnus of Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta, Kolkata.

Mahindra Group’s Arun Nanda to retire

Arun Nanda

Veteran Arun Nanda, Founder, Director, and Chairman of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd. (MHRIL), has announced his retirement, having fulfilled 50 years of his association with the Mahindra group across multiple roles. He is slated to retire at the company’s upcoming AGM on July 25, 2023. Nanda’s most significant contributions have been portrayed during the group’s diversification into the leisure and hospitality sectors when vacation rental and holiday companies were newbie concepts in India. His entrepreneurial and strategic insights led to MHRIL’s success as India’s leading vacation experience provider under the Club Mahindra branding. In 2022, Nanda retired from his long-standing role as Chairman and a board member of Mahindra Life Space Developers, the group’s real estate arm. He opened his innings with the Mahindra group in 1973, as an accountant in Calcutta. He moved to Pune and took over as CFO and as company secretary of Mahindra Sintered Products. In 1986, he moved back to the parent company and was in charge as the Company Secretary and Head of Legal, amongst other positions. He was Executive Director, at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. from 1992 to 2010, and subsequently as its non-executive director till 2014. During his five decades with the Mahindra Group, he steered group companies including MHRIL, Mahindra Lifespace Developers, Mahindra Consulting Engineers, Mahindra World City Developers, Mahindra Water Utilities, and established the Mahindra World City brand (Jaipur and Chennai). He has had previous stints with Owens Corning India, Mumbai Mantra Media, and Union Bank of India. He is also on the advisory boards of Barco Company and Schneider Electric India. He holds a Law degree from the University of Calcutta and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (FCA) and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (FCS). He holds a Senior Executive Programme certification from the London Business School.

K S Shetty takes charge as HPCL HR Director

K S Shetty

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has elevated Suresh (Kasargod) Shetty (K S Shetty), to Director (Human Resources). As per the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Shetty’s tenure is for five years effective from the date of his assuming office, or till the date of his superannuation, or until further orders, whichever is earlier. He held the position of Executive Director-Human Resources and Addl. Charge-Employee Relations, at HPCL, before taking over as the HR Director. He brings 25 years of HR experience, having worked across various capacities within HPCL. An alumnus of the Swedish Institute, Stockholm, where he received his Diploma in Sustainable Development in 2012, Shetty is also a gold medallist in HR Management from the Andhra University. He has an Advanced Management Programme certification from MDI, Gurgaon / ESCP Europe Business School, Paris (2016).

Rajesh Mittal takes the reins as President of Isuzu Motors

Rajesh Mittal

Rajesh Mittal has taken over as the President of Isuzu Motors India (IMI), an arm of the Japanese utility vehicle manufacturer Isuzu. His new position makes Mittal the first person of Indian origin to lead as the President of the Japanese entity. Mittal succeeds Wataru Nakano, who has been elevated to head Isuzu’s Vietnam operations. Mittal joined the top management team as President of Isuzu Engineering Business Centre India (IEBCI) and as Deputy-President of Isuzu Motors India (IMI) in February 2022. He has since been consolidating the business and steered key projects and fostered a culture of excellence. He was Senior Vice President, Logistics at UD Trucks, Japan, before he joined IMI. In his almost 25+ career journey, Mittal has had stints with renowned companies in the auto sector including Hindustan Motors, where he kick-started his career as Assistant Manager in 1985. He moved up the ladder across diverse roles with multiple companies including Eicher Engineering Components, as Senior VP with Dongfeng Truck, and the Volvo Group. With basic schooling in Indore, he has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, and a certification from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the Leeds University Business School.

Nykaa restructures and onboards senior leadership

Sujeet Jain

Nykaa, the FSN e-Commerce Ventures Limited (NYKAA), the beauty and wellness e-commerce brand has onboarded new senior leaders across multiple verticals, following the exodus of five of its key senior executives. The company has been restructuring its top levels and has infused new appointments across business and marketing technology, and finance, for steering its next growth phase. T V Venkataraman (Venkat), with 25+ years of experience across Ashok Leyland, the Aditya Birla Group, and Flipkart has been appointed as the company’s SVP & Head - Internal Audit and Risk Management. Nykaa has appointed P Ganesh, who brings 27 years of experience in financial reporting, business finance, taxation, investor relations, banking, M&A, and corporate law in his associations with the TAFE Group, Pidilite Industries, Godrej Group, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, as the chief financial officer. Former Vodafone Idea’s Sujeet Jain has been named as the Chief Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance Officer and Company Secretary. Jain has had previous stints across diversified sectors with Viacom18, Shaadi.com, and Ultratech Cement. Rajesh Uppalapati, former Amazon, and Intuit executive has been appointed as the company’s chief technology officer (CTO). Uppalapati has about 20 years of experience working across diverse geographies. Abhishek Awasthi, Eswar Perla, Dhruv Mathur and Amit Kulshrestha, have joined the tech team at Nykaa along with the top leadership rejigs. The recent exits in Nykaa are seen as a regular reaction to the standard annual appraisal and transition processes.

Goutom Chakraborty appointed as CEO, GAIL Gas

Goutom Chakraborty

Goutom Chakraborty takes over as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAIL Gas Limited, a subsidiary of GAIL (India) Limited, succeeding Raman Chadha. Before his elevation to the CEO position, Chakraborty was the Executive Director for City Gas Distribution (CGD) business vertical in the flagship company, GAIL (India) Limited. He has 32+ years of rich and diverse experience across the natural gas value chain including operations and maintenance (O&M) of cross-country natural gas pipeline and gas production unit (GPU), GAIL’s renewable portfolio in wind and solar energy, and marketing. He is also on the board of directors of GAIL (India) Limited’s joint venture companies - Bengal Gas Company Ltd. and Tripura Natural Gas Company Ltd. He has been at the forefront of setting up central pipeline integrity management in GAIL and leading the National Gas Management Centre (NGMC), which takes care of GAIL’s complex gas business. He has steered commercial systems and procedures in GAIL across the natural gas and product value chain and Transmission System Operator (TSO). He is an electrical engineer with an MBA specialisation in marketing.

FabIndia ropes in Tata Group stalwart as CEO

Rajeshwari Srinivasan

Rajeshwari Srinivasan has been appointed as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of FabIndia, one of India’s leading ethnic wear and lifestyle retailers. She has succeeded Viney Singh who has retired as the Managing Director and CEO, having served FabIndia for seven years. Rajeshwari has 30+ years of experience across multiple sectors including FMCG, hospitality, retail, and luxury sectors. A Tata Group stalwart, Rajeshwari has held several executive roles at various Tata Group companies, including 15+ years with Titan Company Limited before joining FabIndia. She led diverse sectors and portfolios across FMCG, lifestyle products and services, hospitality, and luxury goods. In previous stints, she has been associated with Sasha Association for Craft Producers, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), Tata Consumer Products (Tata Tea), and Rallis India Ltd. She also steered various Tata sub-brands as CEO of Taneira, the Tata flagship’s saree retail, and as the head of the group’s fragrances unit, including her stint as the Head of the business development group. Her other pivotal role was as a Tata Administrative Services Officer. A Chevening UK scholar, she has been a part of TAS, the Tata group’s flagship leadership development programme, and associated with the Craft Sustainability industry for 20+ years. She is a World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) global associate, and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Madras Christian College - Besant Raj Institute of Finance, and Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai.

Sanjiv Kapoor quits Jet Airways

Sanjiv Kapoor

Sanjiv Kapoor, CEO-designate of Jet Airways has resigned, effective May 1, 2023, after serving his notice period. The executive committee of the consortium is expected to oversee the responsibilities in his absence until they find a suitable replacement. On his resignation, Kapoor said that “I am proud of the ground-breaking business plan we put together and the progress we made, though regrettably, the restart of operations could not happen as planned in 2022.” The grounded airline since 2019, is allegedly in the last stages of closing the ownership transfer of Jet Airways to the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC). In January 2023, the airline notified that Sanjiv Kapoor would remain the CEO-designate until the airline’s ownership was transferred to the Dubai-based Murari Lal Jalan and the UK’s Kalrock Capital consortium. In October 2020, the airline’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) approved the revival plan which was submitted by the JKC consortium. In June 2021, the consortium’s bid was approved under the insolvency resolution process. Jet Airways has been grounded since 2019 and a State Bank of India-led insolvency process has yet to reach a solution. Kapoor joined Jet Airways on April 4, 2022, after a stint as President of the Oberoi Group, and has worked with Vistara and SpiceJet. He was the chief strategy and commercial officer at Vistara, overseeing strategy, marketing, and network planning. Kapoor is an alumnus of La Martiniere School, Kolkata, with an MBA from Wharton (University of Pennsylvania).