Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) as New StanChart Asia Head

Press Release (Sept 7, 2007): Standard Chartered Bank is pleased to announce today that Jaspal Bindra, currently Regional Chief Executive Officer for South and South East Asia, will take responsibility for growth and governance across the Asia region, excluding South Korea. He will oversee several of Standard Chartered’s key markets like China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, among others.

Mr. Bindra succeeds former Group Executive Director Kai Nargolwala’s governance role who has resigned to pursue other career interests.

Mr. Bindra was in August appointed Director of Standard Chartered Bank, the main operating subsidiary of the Group, and is a key member of Standard Chartered Group’s senior management team. He is on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) PCL, Prime Financial Holdings Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad and SCOPE International (M) Sdn Bhd. He is the Chairman of Standard Chartered Nepal Limited, Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius) Limited and Scope International Private Limited, India.

.....Jaspal joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1998 as Chief Executive India and successfully led the acquisition of ANZ Grindlays. Prior to his current role Jaspal was Global Head of Client Relationships, Wholesale Banking where he was responsible for all client relationships and commercial banking products across all the 56 countries that the Bank operates in.

An Interview with Percy Siganporia (74BMD), MD Tata Tea

Signalling its intent to evolve as a complete ‘beverage solutions company’, the once conservative Tata Tea has been in the news lately for a couple of big-ticket acquisitions and aggressive business moves.

....In the domestic branded tea business, Tata Tea overtook market leader Hindustan Unilever in volumes for the first time in several years.

Read this exclusive interview with Percy Siganporia (74BMD), Tata Tea’s MD about how the company has changed its DNA to adopt a challenger mindset for growth.

Click to Read

Sutapa Banerjee (89 PMIR) - a First for India Inc.

Economic Times (Sept 2): In a first for India Inc., Abn Amro Bank’s Sutapa Banerjee (89PMIR) has been nominated among 20 most successful, rising wealth managers in the world by leading international business magazine, The Institutional Investor. For Banerjee, who heads the private banking department in Abn Amro Bank, the feat is even more noteworthy as there are only two nominations from Asia.

Banerjee.... will fly to New York on September 10 to take part in the award ceremony....

Banerjee, who has experience of 18 years in the banking business, also holds to her distinction setting up consumer banking division for ABN Amro in India from scratch in 1996. Prior to joining ABN Amro, she was working with ANZ Grindlays Bank plc for seven years from 1989 to 1996.

NV Krishna (93BMD) as VP & Chief Sales & Mktg Officer of EXL Holdings Inc.

Exl Service Holdings, Inc. has recruited Krishna Nacha (NV Krishna, 93BMD) as Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer effective 30 August 2007. Based out of EXL's New York office, Krishna will report to Vikram Talwar, vice chairman and CEO....

Prior to joining EXL, Krishna was working with iGate Global Solutions since 2004 and was a member of the executive leadership team. Prior to that, Krishna worked with Infosys for 4+ years in roles including group sales manager - insurance and healthcare and head, sales for Canada.

Rohit Kapoor, president and chief operating officer, ExlService, said, "Krishna will be a key asset for EXL as we execute on our strategic vision of becoming a trusted partner for our clients in transforming and outsourcing business processes. We are impressed with Krishna's strategic and systematic approach to client engagement and business development."

Sharat Dhall (93BMD) joins Expedia as India Head

Sharath Dhall (93BMD) has been appointed online travel portal Expedia.com as its head of India operations.

...Prior to joining Times Internet Ltd (TIL) as its Director (e-Commerce) about a year-and-a-half ago, Dhall was working for HLL (now, HUL) as business head of its rural venture, Project Shakti. He has 14 years of experience and has also worked with Asian Paints.

Expedia created buzz in October 2006 when it said it was looking for a person to head its imminent operations in India. The company now has an office in Gurgaon, but has not announced any other plans. Expedia offers the ‘Expedia Best Price Guarantee’ which guarantees customers the best rates for all types of travel -- it offers vacation packages, flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and in-destination activities. Since Expedia is very strong globally on hotel bookings, the company is expected to follow the same route when it officially launches in India.

Madhukar Kamath (76BMD) is AAAI President

The Hindu (July 31): Mr Madhukar Kamath (76BMD), Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, has been unanimously elected as the new President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2007-2008.

The AAAI is the apex body of advertising agencies in the country and comprises 84 members who account for approximately 80 per cent of all the advertising business in the country.

Commenting on his appointment as the President of AAAI, Mr Kamath said, “The Indian advertising industry is undergoing tremendous change. I believe marketing communications play a valuable role in the economy. The task at hand is to improve the image of the industry and to promote the interests of the advertising agencies so that they continue to make an essential and ever-increasing contribution to the nation.”

XLer as a Poet

Sabyasachi Nag (92PMIR) published his first book of poems early this year with Writers' Workshop.

Sabyasachi Nag, Bloodlines, A Writer’s Workshop Redbird Book, ISBN 81-8157-571-7 hardback (100 Rupees), 50 pages, 2006, Available from Lake Gardens Press, 162/92 Lake Gardens, Kolkata 700 045, India.

The review reads:

Calcutta, India-born Sabyasachi Nag, now a resident of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, represents one of the new, refreshing voices writing poetry today. A poet sensitive to what is happening in the world around him, Sachi Nag writes vividly and strongly on themes that draw from his Indian background, on nature topics, and on current events. His writing is never dull but is full of fresh surprises that reward the reader.

The poet is unflinching in tackling difficult and brutal topics....
Read on...

PL Barua (70PMIR) the New IOC (Assam Oil Div) Chief

DIBRUGARH, April 30 – PL Barua today assumed charge as the executive director of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Division), which has its divisional headquarters at Digboi. Prior to taking over as executive director of Assam Oil Division, Barua was executive director (Human Resources) at Refineries Headquarters of Indian Oil Corporation Limited for the last one year. Earlier, he was on deputation from IOC to head the human resource function of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd as advisor (HR) from 1999 to 2006, where he established the organisational set-up of the newly formed company NRL and implemented many innovative HR policies and practices.

An alumnus of GUwahati’s Don Bosco High School and Shillong’s St. Edmund's College, Barua completed his post-graduation in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from XLRI of Jamshedpur. He joined the erstwhile Assam Oil Company Limited as assistant labour welfare officer in August 1970....

Leena Nair (92PMIR) to head HR at Hind Lever

MUMBAI (Economic Times, March 5, 2007):
Leena Nair, general manager – HR (HPC, foods and leadership supply), Hindustan Unilever (HUL), has been promoted as vice-president, HR.

Ms Nair will be the first woman manager in HUL’s history to rise to vice-president level. Ms Nair has been with HUL ever since she joined the company as a management trainee from XLRI Jamshedpur in 1992.

Expressing delight over her appointment, Ms Nair said, “I feel excited about such a great opportunity. HR is an important function in HUL, and we have been thought leaders in the industry in terms of policies and planning to attract the best talent. I hope to take this forward and continue the good work.”

XL Alumni Achievement '06-'07: A Round-Up

Here is a compilation of the achievements by XL alumni during last one year (06-07).

Though the list is neither complete nor comprehensive, at least it is indicative of the diverse fields in which XLRI Alumni have been achieving excellence:

Aquil Busrai (72PMIR), Executive Director (HR), IBM India, was conferred the Life-Time Achievement Award for his work in the field of HR by the National HRD Network.

Sujit Baksi (72PMIR) took over as the President, Tech Mahindra.

Vikram Rao (75BMD), head of ABG’s Garment Business, joined the Board of Aditya Birla Group.

Prof Gerald Tellis (BMD 1977), the Director of the Center for Global Innovation, Neely Chair of American Enterprise and Professor of Marketing at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (LA), was awarded 2006 Mahajan Award for Lifetime Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research by 2006 American Marketing Association Educators' conference in Chicago.

Harsh Kumar (78BMD) was appointed the Managing Director of Mahindra Intertade.

Prakash Puram (78BMD), CEO, ixMatch, was inducted as a Member into US President’s Export Council (PEC), making him the first India-born MBA to take up an advisory role to the White House

Bijou Kurian (81BMD) joined Reliance Retail Venture’ Lifestyle Business as the CEO.

R Ramakrishnan (82BMD), President and COO of Bajaj Electricals was invited to address the 1000+ gathering of professionals at the Campus Symposium of Iselorn, Germany. The other speakers included Bill Clinton, Lord Chris Patton (frm Governer of Hong Kong), the German Finance Minister, and CEOs of Credit Suisse, Audi, Mushreq Bank, etc.

George Zacharias (82BMD) was appointed the Managing Director, Yahoo! India.

Suri Venkat (83PMIR) took over as the Chief Operating Officer of Sify.

Vinod Sawhney (83BMD) was appointed as the CEO of Bharti Retail (P) Ltd.

Rajan Krishnan (85BMD) took over as the Business Head of the Principal Mutual Fund, the Asset Management Group of PNB.

Vineet Nayar (85BMD), President, HCL Techologies Ltd., was featured in the Fortune magazine for creating, as the title of the article says, “The Most Modern Management – in India”.

Surajit Shome (86BMD) was appointed the Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking of Lehman Brothers India.

Gargi Banerji (86PMIR), Founder of Pragya, was given Sadguru Gnanananda National Award (2007) for her work on environmental conservation. She was felicitated by the Governer of Tamil Nadu, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala.

Vijay Nair (87PMIR) published his second book, and first novel, “Master of Life Skills”. The book was launched by Harper Collins India, and received very favourable reviews.

Vikas Gupta (88BMD) joined the Anand Bazar Patrika Ltd as the President, BusinessWorld magazine, and the Chief Marketing Officer.

Milind Chalisgaonkar (89BMD) took over as the CEO of the Bharti AXA General Insurance India.

Ashish Rajpal (92BMD), the co-founder & Managing Director of iDiscoveri, was featured among the “50 Leaders shaping the Indian Education in India” in Education World.

Rajiv Kaul (92BMD), the former Managing Director of Microsoft India, joined as Partner, Actis in London.

Anu Kumar (94PMIR), with Economic and Political Weekly, published her 2nd book “Letters for Paul” (Mapin Books). The book was released by Shyam Benegal at Crossword, Mumbai.

Mohit Nayyar (95PMIR), Director – HR, P&G India was awarded the “Young Achiever” award by the National HRD Network.

Brajesh Bajpai (96BMD) moved from Pepsi to take over as theCountry Manager, Marico - Egypt.

Dinu Poonacha (96BMD) was appointed the President – Corporate Stategy and Planning for the Rs. 2,300cr Yash Birla Group.

Anuradha Vijayakrishnan (98BMD), with Citibank, was selected by the renowned literary agent, David Godwin for her forthcoming novel, making her the 60th such author worldwide, and the 6th Indian (including Arundhati Roy).

S Ministhy (98PMIR), an IAS officer and rank-holder of her batch, published her first book of short stories “Unequal Equations.”

Ajay MK (99PMIR), Head - HR, Colgate Palmolive (Malaysia & Singapore), and the G-Sec of the batch, published his first book of short stories: “Drizzle of Yesteryears & Other Stories” (Frog Books, India).

Nandita de Cunha (01BMD), a consultant with KPMG, published her first book, “The Magic of Maya” (Rupa Publications). The book was released by Anil Dharkar at Crossword bookstore, Mumbai.

Kumar Anand (05BMD) and Lara Lobo (06PMIR), both in Standard Chartered Bank (India), won the Microsoft Corporate Challenge 2006 – an event involving cross country running & cycling, rowing, puzzle cracking, deciphering, map navigation, stock market simulation, etc, - and competing against 35 participating corporates included the likes of Barclays Bank, ICICI Securities, ICICI Bank, J P Morgan Stanley and a host of others like Unilever, Infosys and our formidable Indian Navy.

... the list, as mentioned ealier, is incomplete....