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Category: People

  • Eicher Motors reappoints Siddhartha Lal as MD

    Eicher Motors reappoints Siddhartha Lal as MD

    Mumbai: The board of Eicher Motors Ltd (EML) on Monday decided to re-appoint Siddhartha Lal as managing director, with effect from 1 May.

    Earlier on 17 August, the shareholders, at the company’s 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) had rejected the proposal for the re-appointment of Lal as MD. The shareholders had also rejected the payment of remuneration to Lal.
    “The matter pertaining to the appointment of Siddhartha Lal as managing director and the remuneration proposal was discussed comprehensively, and the board unanimously decided to reappoint Siddhartha Lal as Managing Director, with effect from May 1, 2021,” the company said in a regulatory filing. 

    Speaking about the outcome of the AGM and specifically about the remuneration issue, EML chairman, S Sandilya said, “The Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) of the company has considered all the factors, including inputs from various stakeholders including institutional investors before recommending remuneration for key managerial persons. The primary concern with investors was not Siddhartha’s reappointment as managing director or the proposed compensation; it was the lack of clarity regarding the enabling provision that potentially allowed payment of remuneration upto 3 per cent of profits.”

    “Over the last four years, we have had the same limit of 3 per cent, but in reality have paid only a fraction of that amount. The actual remuneration during FY2021 was at 1.04 per cent of profits, with the preceding years being at a lower percentage,” Sandilya added.

    Given the background of actual remuneration paid to the managing director in preceding years, the board has now approved a revised remuneration structure for the managing director, with a maximum cap of 1.5 per cent of profits as per Section 198 of the Companies Act, the company further stated.  

  • Meena Ganesh named chairperson of Portea Medical, Vaibhav Tewari new CEO

    Meena Ganesh named chairperson of Portea Medical, Vaibhav Tewari new CEO

    Mumbai: Portea Medical, a homegrown outside of hospital consumer healthcare company, on Monday announced the appointment of founder Meena Ganesh as chairperson and elevated Vaibhav Tewari to the position of CEO at the company.

    The new appointments have been made with an aim to further synergise and streamline Portea’s operations in the new normal, and efficiently activate the 2023 growth strategy, said the company in a statement. “Portea plans to strengthen its remote monitoring teams and technology, create hybrid offerings that best use technology and on-ground presence,” it added.

    In her new capacity, Ganesh will be building strategy, M&A, driving advocacy and relationships with stakeholders such as institutional partners, government bodies, investors and external communication. On the other hand, Tewari will be working on company growth, strategy rollout, building business, and deploying technologies.

    Tewari said that during the pandemic, the company supported COVID care through remote monitoring as well as on-ground deployment of resources, medical equipment and technology and also provided complex hospital-based procedures such as cancer care and dialysis at home. “We have created our strategic vision for 2023 with an aim to take our digital-first healthcare services to more people and territories across India. At the same time, we will use automation and other technologies to enhance the experience of people availing our services as well as our on-ground caregivers,” he said.

    “In the wake of the pandemic, there has been a much greater adoption and demand for digital healthcare services. We, therefore, felt the need to further strengthen our digital capabilities and expand our footprint as well as services’ portfolio,” said Ganesh. “In the last one and a half year, we have worked closely with all stakeholders and served millions of people in various ways across the country. The situation has not only created a favorable atmosphere for digital healthcare in India, but also clearly highlighted the areas where stronger digitisation strategies are required. Vaibhav and I have worked in tandem since the outset, and now it is a great opportunity for us to take Portea forward with him as the CEO.”

  • MullenLowe Lintas elevates Naveen Gaur as Group COO, growth & innovation

    MullenLowe Lintas elevates Naveen Gaur as Group COO, growth & innovation

    Mumbai: In view of the ever-changing marketing landscape, MullenLowe Lintas Group plans to further consolidate its offering beyond strategy and creative. To this end, Naveen Gaur has been elevated as Group COO – growth and innovation, MullenLowe Lintas Group.

    Gaur’s mandate will be to strengthen the areas of marketing services that agencies within the Group offer – such as PR, digital, content creation and production, experiential, design, analytics, and MarTech. In addition to this, Gaur will also lead the marketing, reputation, and strategic growth initiatives for the Group.

    In his previous role as the deputy CEO of Lowe Lintas, he was overseeing the existing key business relationships and founding new ones. Gaur’s association with Lintas goes back to 2010 when he was branch head of Lowe Lintas Delhi where he encouraged an entrepreneurial culture of growth and business excellence. Under his leadership, the agency added large mandates that are a healthy mix of start-ups and established brands. He is also credited with deepening the agency’s relationship with Google, Pernod Ricard, Nestle, and Cargill foods.

    MullenLowe Lintas Group – Group CCO and chairman, Amer Jaleel, who has worked closely with Gaur on marquee brands of the Group like Havells, Google and OLX amongst others, said: “I’ve worked with Naveen as a partner for over 10 eventful years. He stands firmly proud of owning the intersection on brand and business. And would be fearless in pointing out the lack of either in a piece of work he would be judging. And that shows his innate understanding of both. Naveen remains oddly unserious despite having seen through hundreds of crises. He switches seamlessly and this quality is what Lintas wants to capitalise on to ride into its most transformative phase ever. Naveen will help broaden the scope of what it means to be a brand in the new age.”

    After leading Lowe Lintas into its next phase of growth as its deputy CEO, he will now be tasked with replicating the success for marketing services of the Group – Lintas Live, dCell, LinEngage, Lintas C:EX, and LinConsult. Naveen will aggressively grow these already strong suite of specialist services as well as develop new ones through an effective combination of build, acquire and collaborate.

    Commenting on the elevation, MullenLowe Lintas Group- Group CEO, Virat Tandon said, “We are living in very exciting times as we see shifts in the entire marketing landscape. This presents us with a great opportunity to extend our services across the spectrum of creative solutions eco-system. Naveen is a stalwart in the advertising business and is an entrepreneur at heart. There can be no one better to lead the agencies in developing and growing this ecosystem. We will be looking at serving our existing clients better by using our ‘Hyperbundled’ creative solutions process to bring all the specialist services around the client goals. At the same time, this eco-system will also develop their own independent clients and growth agenda. I am very excited to see Naveen take up this role.”

    Talking about the elevation, Naveen Gaur said, “Growth and value creation drive me. I am honored that the Group has entrusted me with this role and responsibility to make some bold moves and create future leading offerings and take the Group to the next level. I am looking forward to doing new things that will make me sleepless again.”

    Gaur assumes the new role from 1 September and he will be handing over his current responsibilities over the next few months to the new leadership at Lowe Lintas which will be announced soon. This transition will be completed by the end of 2021, the organisation said.

  • WOW Skin Science appoints Kiran Kumar as VP, supply chain

    WOW Skin Science appoints Kiran Kumar as VP, supply chain

    Mumbai: FMCG personal care brand WOW Skin Science on Monday announced the appointment of Kiran Kumar as vice president of the supply chain.

    Kumar will play a pivotal role in managing the end-to-end supply chain of Body Cupid Pvt Ltd. His responsibilities will also include production and distribution planning, warehousing, logistics, and procurement.

    In his career spanning 18 years, Kumar has worked as senior instock manager at Cloudtail, an Amazon joint venture. He has also lent his expertise as manager- supply chain at Marico where he handled various roles across manufacturing, procurement, distribution planning, new product development, project management, modern trade, and e-commerce supply chain management.

    WOW Skin Science, co-founder, Manish Chowdhary said, “I am pleased to welcome Kiran Kumar to the WOW family. With his vast experience and expertise in logistics, warehousing, and vendor management, we aim at capitalising and redefining our product journey efficiently and economically, thus setting a new paradigm of growth and development.”  

    Speaking about his new role, Kumar said, “Supply chain management plays a pivotal role in the growth of every D2C brand. An end-to-end operation is managed from the time the product is manufactured to the time it gets delivered to the end consumer. This journey is seamless and coherent with an aim of a 96-97 per cent service level coupled with the minimum total delivery cost. It is often said that ‘First impression is the last impression’ and my responsibility will be to amplify this impression by ensuring that the right product reaches the right consumer with the right packaging.”

  • Ranjeet Kamtekar named president & sales head at Xanadu Bengaluru

    Ranjeet Kamtekar named president & sales head at Xanadu Bengaluru

    Mumbai: Xanadu Realty has announced the appointment of Ranjeet Kamtekar as president and head of sales for its Bengaluru operations. He will be responsible for establishing Xanadu Realty’s formidable presence as a ‘business accelerator’ in the South market and play a pivotal role in delivering on Xanadu’s promise to its clients, said the company.

    “Xanadu has ventured into the real estate sector in Bengaluru in the second half of 2020, and we’re certain that Ranjeet’s extensive experience in sales will add immense value to our business operations there,” said Xanadu Realty, CEO, Vikas Chaturvedi. “We are sure that his stellar track record and professional abilities will be a driving force behind establishing Xanadu’s presence in the center of India’s IT hub.”

    Kamtekar comes with over 17 years of experience in the sales and business development domains and has extensively worked in BFSI and real estate industries. He has been associated with Xanadu Realty Mumbai, for about five years now, during which he has helmed several residential and commercial projects. He has also played an integral role in the establishment of various business verticals – corporate sales, outstation sales, and channel partner network distribution, providing a significant boost to the overall growth of Xanadu Realty in Mumbai.

    In his impressive career graph, Kamtekar has worked as a sales manager-lending for ICICI Bank Ltd and as an AVP and senior relationship manager, business banking for HSBC. In the real estate sector, he was associated with the Lodha Group as the GM, where he was responsible for identifying various opportunities to drive deeper market penetration.

  • Shadowfax appoints Sumit Pilankar as VP of engineering & technology

    Shadowfax appoints Sumit Pilankar as VP of engineering & technology

    Mumbai: Homegrown crowdsourced logistics platform Shadowfax Technologies on Friday announced the latest addition to its senior leadership team. To further strengthen the technology vertical and make a strategic move towards the larger business goals at Shadowfax, the company has appointed Sumit Pilankar as the vice president – engineering and technology.

    With over 17 years of rich experience in the technology industry, Pilankar will be taking charge of spearheading the engineering and technology unit and will be reporting to Shadowfax Technologies, co-founder & CTO, Vaibhav Khandelwal.

    His role will involve creating innovative tech-enabled solutions to power last-mile delivery services. Prior to joining Shadowfax, Pilankar had led technology intervention in various organisations like Flipkart, Holiday IQ, WordPoint Technologies, and Kudos Infomedia.

    Sharing the vision for the company’s growth aligned to the latest developments, Khandelwal said, “We are a growing and dynamic company. Our core has always been delivering value to our customers and helping them create an enhanced experience for the end customers. At Shadowfax, we leverage technology to build best-in-class logistics solutions that are efficient, cost-effective, and agile to service a vast range of businesses thereby adding value to the lives of our partners and patrons. We are excited to welcome Sumit on board and continue to ameliorate this journey towards excellence.”

    Expressing his thoughts on his new stint, Pilankar said, “I have been closely following the developments in the Indian logistics and supply chain industry and believe that technology has the potential to be the game-changer. The industry has been transforming from manual to data-driven decision making and this when coupled with the latest technologies will enhance the experiences for all stakeholders.”

  • Vinod Thadani joins Dentsu International as DGO, media – India & CEO, iProspect India

    Vinod Thadani joins Dentsu International as DGO, media – India & CEO, iProspect India

    Mumbai: Dentsu International on Friday announced the appointment of Vinod Thadani as chief digital growth officer (DGO) for India. Thadani will also be taking on the additional role of chief executive officer (CEO), iProspect India. He will report to Media South Asia, CEO, Divya Karani.

    Thadani comes with over two decades of experience in media and advertising. Prior to Dentsu, he was associated with Mindshare as chief digital officer for the South Asia region. Previously, Thadani was the CEO of Madhouse India, a joint venture between WPP and Madhouse China, and played a crucial role in setting up India’s largest mobile advertising and marketing company.

    Speaking about the new development, Karani said, “Vinod is a strategic addition to our future-forward business design. His values and commitment to innovation resonate with all that dentsu stands for. I am fully confident his exceptional and in-depth mastery of digital will help our clients’ business scale new frontiers.”  

    Commenting on his new assignment, Vinod Thadani said, “I am excited to become an integral part of this network and look forward to the journey ahead. My contribution in dual capacities will be an opportunity to offer excellence and best-in-class services to all our clients specially in the space of digital performance, data-driven marketing, e-commerce, marketing effectiveness & creative. There is scale, specialisation & integration at the core of our offerings & through this journey, my goal is to pursue growth for our clients and the network.”

  • Dentsu India restructures CXM business; Anubhav Sonthalia named CEO

    Dentsu India restructures CXM business; Anubhav Sonthalia named CEO

    Mumbai: Following the restructure of its creative and media businesses in India, dentsu has now announced the launch of a unified Merkle-led CXM proposition in the market. The announcement brings together data transformation, digital transformation, and CX consulting into one unit to create the most specialised CX practice in India under brand Merkle.

    Part of the network’s global organisational redesign, the dentsu India CXM business will now house the agencies – Sokrati, Fractal Ink Design Studio and Merkle B2B, under one umbrella. Anubhav Sonthalia will lead dentsu CXM in India as its chief executive officer in addition to serving his current role as Sokrati CEO. He will continue to report to dentsu India CEO, Anand Bhadkamkar and dentsu CXM CEO – APAC, Z Shen.

    Sonthalia will be responsible for the integration, coordination, and implementation of dentsu CXM’s overall strategy across the country. The CXM business will be aimed at building differentiated customer experiences through data, design & technology transformations, and will work with partners like Salesforce, Adobe, Google Cloud & AWS, said the company in a statement.

    Speaking on the launch, Anand Bhadkamkar said, “Keeping up with our #onedentsu strategy, the new CXM business will help us move closer towards our growth journey. CXM is growing rapidly, and it is soon expected to become 35 per cent of our overall business in India. By 2025, we project that this growing field will have a 50 per cent contribution to our business. With this new CXM line of business, our clients will see a host of benefits as it will be a one-stop solution for all their CXM needs. I have complete faith in Anubhav’s leadership and in CXM to create numerous opportunities for clients as well as for the network.”

    Commenting on his new role, Anubhav Sonthalia added, “I am looking forward to leading dentsu India CXM and to develop newer strategies to up our customer experience game. We aim to provide world-class services to our clients and prioritise data-driven experiences & personalisation of the entire end-to-end customer experience. Our key focus will be to create a holistic view for the clients, and a focused strategy for delivering personalised experiences that they demand.”

  • Huhtamaki India appoints Neha Phale as head of public affairs

    Huhtamaki India appoints Neha Phale as head of public affairs

    Mumbai: Huhtamaki India Ltd has announced the appointment of Neha Phale as head of public affairs and member of the leadership team at Flexible Packaging India.

    In this role, Phale will support the delivery of Huhtamaki’s 2030 growth strategy and the positioning of the company as a leading manufacturer of sustainable packaging solutions in India. As part of this, she is responsible for stakeholder communications and developing partnerships with key stakeholders working towards delivering sustainable packaging solutions and managing public affairs issues, said the company in a statement.

    Phale has over 15 years of experience in communications and public affairs. She joins Huhtamaki from Welspun India Ltd where she was responsible for shaping the company’s overall communication strategy as well as creating and managing relationships between internal and external stakeholders. Prior to this, Phale held senior communications and public affairs roles at Huntsman International and Dow Chemical.

    Welcoming Phale on board, Huhtamaki India’s MD Sudip Mall said, “Neha brings with her sound experience of B2B communications that will benefit us, as we engage with stakeholders to protect food, people and the planet. Huhtamaki, in conjunction with others, has an important role in providing sustainable packaging solutions in India which help drive towards a circular economy and we look to Neha to work with key stakeholders and spearhead our public affairs agenda to support the organization’s larger purpose.”

    Speaking about her appointment, Phale said, “I am delighted to join a company that is focused on delivering benefits to society and am excited to be part of the next growth phase of the company in India.”

  • Vivek Bhargava moves on from Dentsu Performance Group

    Vivek Bhargava moves on from Dentsu Performance Group

    Mumbai: Dentsu Performance Group, head, Vivek Bhargava has announced his exit from the organisation. In his next move, Bhargava sets his focus on ProfitWheel, a SaaS startup that he co-founded last year.

    ProfitWheel is a product company that will focus on creating a customer data-led marketing intelligence platform for the new direct-to-consumer world.

    “ProfitWheel has been active in stealth mode for the last one year. Now, it was finally time to bring it to the fore and get the wheels rolling,” said ProfitWheel, co-founder, Vivek Bhargava. “With ProfitWheel, we are attempting to connect ad tech with mar-tech to make both efficient. Our eventual goal is to make the advertising and marketing expenses a part of the balance sheet where it becomes the cost of sales rather than an expense. It’s a game-changing model for the startup ecosystem,” he added.

    Bhargava began his entrepreneurial journey in 1997 when he founded Communicate 2. The company joined hands with iProspect India, a digital marketing agency, from Dentsu international in 2012 with Bhargava leading the new entity – iProspect Communicate 2 – as founder and MD. 

    The company was rebranded as iProspect India at the end of 2015 with Bhargava as CEO until 2016, the year he was named the CEO of DAN Performance Group. In this role, he oversaw all of Dentsu’s digital performance agencies.