Colly Wood

CP Gurnani, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tech Mahindra, will step down as the non-executive, non-independent director on 21 December, and is scheduled to retire on 19 December. He is also Chairman of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL). He has been associated with the Mahindra Group since 2004 in various capacities, including a member of the company’s Board of Directors since April 2020 for 3+ years. He became a CXO at the age of 38 years and would be stepping down at the age of 65. He is seen as one of the longest-serving CEOs in the technology sector. In 2022-23 (FY23), Gurnani's remuneration was halved to Rs 32 crore from Rs 63.4 crore in FY22. The company has yet to name Gurnani’s successor. In a career spanning 40+ years, he has held several senior positions with Hewlett Packard Ltd., Perot Systems (India) Ltd. and HCL Corporation Ltd. His business acumen across operations, proficiency in global markets, strategy and experience led to several bold transformations. He was instrumental in bringing forth one of the iconic turnarounds in the merger and acquisition of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Limited. He was the Chairman of the CII National Committee on IT & ITeS, Chairman of NASSCOM (2016-2017), and has been part of the Prime Minister’s CEO delegations in multiple countries. He is an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. He has been felicitated with an honorary doctorate by four different universities. He is on the board of Mahindra Educational Institutions (MEI), a member of the Board of Management of Mahindra University, a private university. He chairs IIM Nagpur and is the founding trustee of Plaksha University

HUL elevates Harman Dhillon as ED, Beauty & Wellbeing, rejigs management

HUL’s Harman Dhillon elevated as ED, Beauty & Wellbeing, as HUL rejigs management and undertakes business transformations. Harman Dhillon to take charge as Executive Director of Beauty & Wellbeing business, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), moving away from her role as Vice President, Hair Care division of HUL, effective April 2024. The move is a part of HUL’s management rejig, including changes and appointments to its management committee, aimed at strengthening its Beauty and Personal Care divisions. The transitions have been triggered to accommodate the transformation of its Beauty and Personal Care division to Beauty & Wellbeing (B&W) and Personal Care (PC) businesses with effect from 1st April 2024. With the new changes, Kartik Chandrasekhar will be joining the management committee as Executive Director of Personal Care, while Madhusudhan Rao, the current Executive Director of HUL’s business and economy (B&E) and packaged consumer business, will be retiring from the company. Arun Neelakantan is slated to join the management as Chief Digital Officer (CDO) from 1st January, 2024. The transition is expected to leverage HUL’s strong portfolio with seasoned business leaders - Harman and Kartik, who will lead HUL’s B&W and PC divisions, respectively. Harman is an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies, University Of Delhi, and Shri Ram College of Commerce.

Forbes lists Nilekani, Singh and Kamath as Asia’s philanthropy heroes

Nandan Nilekani, K P Singh, Nikhil Kamath

Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chairman of the renowned tech giant Infosys, K P Singh, chairman emeritus at DLF and Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, have gained top spots on the 17th edition of Forbes Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy list. The recent listing is an unranked compilation of individuals recognising them for their fortunes and personal resources in significantly contributing to various charitable causes. Nilekani’s substantial contribution of Rs.3.2 billion (USD 38 million) to his alma mater, IIT Bombay (IIT-B), is seen as a philanthropic gesture that has been on-going for 5+ years. It marks his 50-years of association with IIT-B, including his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering. Since 1999, Nilekani’s cumulative donations to IIT-B has summed up to around Rs.4 billion. In the past one year itself, his philanthropic reach found a new extension when he donated an additional Rs.1.6 billion to various educational causes. K P Singh divested his direct stake in the DLF, which amounted to 0.59% shareholding, generating a substantial Rs.7.3 billion. Singh’s desire to fund philanthropic causes is seen as the root motivation for divesting his holdings. He quit as chairman of DLF in 2020, and since then his commitment to social impact continues. While not much has been divulged about Nikhil Kamat’s philanthropic contributions, his inclusion earmarks the growing trend of business leaders who have taken on a philanthropic path across diverse sectors engaging in philanthropy. The Heroes of Philanthropy list, in its 17th edition, deliberately excludes corporate philanthropy unless the individual is a majority owner of a privately-held company. This criteria ensures that the recognition is focused on personal commitment and involvement in charitable endeavours.

IDFC-Hurun lists young self-made entrepreneurs

Ghazal Alagh, Vineeta Singh

Co-founders Ghazal Alagh of Ma- maearth and Vineeta Singh of SUG-AR Cosmetics, have been listed as toppers amongst the youngest self-made women entrepreneurs on the “The IDFC FIRST Private Hurun India's Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2023 list”. Keeping age aside, Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO of Nykaa.com gains ground as the top-most self-made woman entrepreneur. Ghazal and Vineeta gained popularity as the ‘sharks’ in the Shark Tank India business reality television series (Sony Entertainment Television), and their entry as one of the top 10 youngest entrepreneurs’ clubs celebrates their entrepreneurial prowess. Ghazal began her working stint as a corporate trainer-turned-artist and as a mompreneur. She revamped the Indian beauty environment in the digital era. She understood consumer needs and initially catered through a D2C and built her brand strategies around Honasa Consumer Ltd. (Mamaearth) and TheDermaCo. Vineeta is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and is known to have declined a `1 crore job offer from a leading investment bank, to follow her heart into entrepreneurship. She is a triathlete and ultra-marathoner. Vineeta, has been featured in the Fortune ‘40-Under-40 List’ 2021, the HT Mint, The Economic Times and Entrepreneur magazines, including Times Of India and YourStory. Other top women rankers in the list include Saumya Singh Rathore (35), co-founder of vernacular social gaming platform - WinZO; Rajoshi Ghosh (36) co-founder of API management app, Hasura; Garima Sawhney (37), co-founder of health-tech company, Pristyn Care; Kanika Gupta (39), co-founder of Square Yards, a tech-led brokerage and mortgage marketplace. The B2B segment, includes Ruchi Kalra (40), co-founder of OfBusiness and Oxyzo, amongst other prolific contenders.

Jubilant’s Goenka joins Tata Consumer Products

Ashish Goenka will take charge as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO), of Tata Consumer Products (TCP), the umbrella company, responsible for Tata Group’s food and beverage interests. To be based in Mumbai, he will report to Sunil D’Souza, MD and CEO, of TCP. Goenka will move on from his current role as the President and CFO with Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. His appointment is in line with the TCP’s focus on building a future-ready organisation and strengthening its capability. He will be responsible for TCPs’ integrated finance function overseeing group accounts and finance, investments, capital structuring, forecasting and budgeting, and providing strategic direction to businesses. He would be responsible for developing and delivering TCP’s annual, mid-term, and long-term business growth plans, including strategy and M&A, legal, secretarial and compliance, investor relations and communications, internal audit, and risk management functions. Goenka brings 20+ years of experience across the finance function. He held senior leadership positions with Unilever and Bharti Airtel before his stint with Jubilant. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, he is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

IIT Bombay appoints TCS’s Gopinathan to head its research wing

Rajesh Gopinathan

Rajesh Gopinathan, former CEO, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has been appointed as head-translational research and entrepreneurship and professor of practice at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. The institute has created a translational research center that supports the transition of IP from lab to industry and Gopinathan’s role will further accelerate the initiatives. Gopinathan’s role falls in line with tradition across IITs in actively involving industry leaders in shaping their plans.

Gopinathan’s global exposure and experience in the rapidly scaling up at TCS will help to take responsibility for taking IIT Bombay’s agenda to the next level. As per previous media reports, Gopinathan, who quit TCS in September, was touted to be joining Boston Consulting Group as a senior advisor across its technology, media, and telecom (TMT) practice. At BCG, Gopinathan would be advising the firm as an external consultant. However, a confirmation on Gopinathan’s presence with BCG awaits official confirmation.

Manish Tiwary leads management rejig at Amazon India

Manish Tiwary, Vice President and Country Head, the e-commerce major Amazon, will be steering top-level restructuring of the company’s management base in India. It will be the first such change in a decade since Amazon set shop in India. The restructuring is likely to witness a new dual leadership structure which might come into effect under Tiwary and the US-based Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President for India and emerging markets at Amazon, involved in the company’s India operations. With Noor Patel, Vice President, of Amazon India and a senior executive, shifting base to the US, Patel’s responsibilities will be split between Nishant Sardana, Category Leader, Smartphones and Accessories and Ranjit Babu, Director, Wireless & Home Entertainment. As per an internal communication by Tiwary to various brands, Sardana will continue to manage the PC, audio, camera and large appliances business, while Babu will lead Amazon India’s wireless and home entertainment business. Tiwary is expected to make more role allocations, including the tech stack of the seller side of the business. These allocations reflect changes that are in the wings under the leadership of Andy Jassy, Amazon’s new CEO. The focus has shifted considerably on Amazon Web Services (AWS) world-wide focusing on new investments as against its core e-commerce business.

Hitachi Energy India ropes in ABB’s Ahluwalia, as Head HR

Neha Ahluwalia takes over as CHRO (Head-HR), of Hitachi Energy India. An HR professional with leadership roles at the global, regional and local levels, she moved in from ABB. Her last position at ANN was that of Global HRBP – Robotics and Automation. She brings in 18 years of robust expertise, steering transformational change management initiatives, and a track record of managing projects and executing them from the concept stages. She has experience in all facets of HR, including the centre of excellence (COE), Human Resource Business Partner HRBP and shared Services across multiple geographies. In previous roles, she worked with HCL Technologies as an HR Business Partner, having kick-started her career with Sierra Atlantic as a project trainee. She holds a BSc degree from the College of Science, Udaipur and a Master’s in HR from ICFAI University, Hyderabad. Neha has also undergone a Senior Leadership Development Programme (Business Administration and Management) from The International Institute for Management Development IMD. Hitachi Energy Technology Services Pvt Ltd, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi Energy Ltd., Switzerland.

Gurnani steps down as MD and CEO, Tech Mahindra