After studying law I vectored towards journalism by accident and it's the only job I've done since. It's a job that has taken me on a private jet to Jaisalmer - where I wrote India's first feature on fractional ownership of business jets - to the badlands of west UP where India's sugar economy is inextricably now tied to politics. I'm a big fan of new business models and crafty entrepreneurs. Fortunately for me, there are plenty of those in Asia at the moment.
Bombay House serves as the head office of the Tata Group Image: Joshua Navalkar
Tata Sons, which is locked in what is turning out to be a time consuming and lengthy battle with its former chairman Cyrus Mistry has moved to make senior leadership changes in the Tata Group. The moves come after it formally disbanded the Group Executive Council (GEC), a body created by Cyrus Mistry that functioned as the conglomerate’s brains trust.
Three former GEC members Mukund Rajan, Gopichand Katragadda and Harish Bhat -- all three long-time Tata employees -- have been retained. In his new role Rajan will be in charge of ethics and sustainability as well as overseeing the offices of overseas representative offices in China, Singapore, Dubai and US. Bhat in addition to being responsible for strategy and business development will handle marketing and customer centricity role that he held earlier. Katragadda will continue to be Group Chief Technology Officer.
All three had worked with the Tata Group in various capacities before the appointment of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons and were widely expected to stay on with the group albeit with changed job responsibilities.
New appointments include S Padmanabhan who will handle human resources for the group in addition to his existing responsibility of the Tata Business Excellence Group. Sanjay Singh will oversee the public affairs function from the New Delhi office of the Tata’s.
Tata Sons’ also announced the departure of Nirmalaya Kumar, N S Rajan and Madhu Kannan. All three had joined the group after Cyrus Mistry took over and had been widely expected to leave following his dismissal.