Appointments - Current Affairs for April, 2017

Nita Ambani has been made member of two important commissions of IOC’s governing body.

She has been made as a member of the prestigious Olympic channel and Olympic education Commission.

Nita Ambani already holds the distinction of being India’s first woman International Olympic Committee member.

She was elected as an individual member of International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year.

She will serve the IOC till she turns 70. IOC has announced the composition of 26 commissions for 2017.

The composition of the IOC commissions for 2017 has seen a 70% increase in female participation since September 2013.

The commissions have also been constituted to reflect a broader geographical representation and include a number of new faces.

Nita Ambani has replaced International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven to be one of the 16 members of the Olympic Channel Commission headed by United States Olympic Committee Chairman Lawrence Francis Probst.

Olympic Channel: Know More

• The Olympic Channel is a digital channel which is estimated to cost about USD 600 million over the first seven years.
• It was launched last year during Rio Games.
• The channel aims to promote Olympic sports and values all round the year.
• The channel is based in Madrid.

• Nita Ambani is also named in the 24-member Olympic Education Commission headed by Barry John Maister of New Zealand.
• She is the chairperson and founder of Reliance Foundation and a non-executive director of Reliance Industries.
• Forbes Magazine has adjudged Nita Ambani as the most influential women business leaders in Asia for the year 2016.
• She is the wealthiest woman in India

Etihad Aviation Group on 24 April 2017 appointed Robin Kamark as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airline Equity Partners.

Kamark will take over the position from Bruno Matheu, who has held the role since May 2016.

He will be responsible for leading and developing the Group’s minority equity investment strategy, which includes stakes in airberlin, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional and Virgin Australia.

Robin Kamark is a 17-year veteran of the airline industry.

He rose through a range of strategy, commercial and general manager roles at SAS Group to become Chief Commercial Officer.

For the last five years, he has been Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Storebrand ASA.

Etihaad: Know More

• The Airways is the second - largest airline of the UAE after Emirates.
• Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi.
• Etihad commenced operations in November 2003.
• Since July 2016, the airline operates more than 1000 flights per week to over 120 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
• Since October 2016, Etihad Airways is rated as one of a small number of 5-star airlines by Skytrax.

The Reserve Bank has opened a new ombudsman office in Jammu as part of its efforts to expand banking grievances complaint cells across the country. E

Earlier, the banking services related complaints from entire Jammu & Kashmir used to fall under the jurisdiction of New Delhi-I banking ombudsman office.

There are two banking ombudsman offices in New Delhi.

There has been a significant increase in banking network during the recent past and the New Delhi office covers a large jurisdiction.

B N Mohapatra on 17 April 2017 took over as the new Financial Commissioner (FC) (Railways) and ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India.

The Financial Commissioner of Railways plays an important role in allocation of funds and for all expenses and revenues of the Railways.

Born on 15 January 1958, B N Mohapatra is an officer of Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) of 1980 batch.

He completed his graduation in LLB and post graduation in Political Science.

During his career, he worked on various higher and middle level management posts in the Indian Railways.

He worked in various capacities in Khurda Road, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Bilaspur Railway Divisions and also in South Eastern Railway Headquarters at Garden Reach, Kolkata.

Life insurance Corp of India has appointed Vinay Shah as the new managing director and chief executive director of its mortgage loan arm and listed entity LIC Housing Finance, after government elevates Sunita Sharma to managing director of LIC earlier this week.

Shah was executive director.

Shah has been with LIC since 1983. Prior to this assignment, he was executive director marketing. He took over the business as ED in April 2015.

He has looked after areas of new product launches in the last two years. He was zonal manager western zone.

The housing finance company had grown profit by 19.2% during the third quarter.

It has strong asset quality. However, in the past few quarters, developer loan segment has been growing faster than the retail loan growth.

India's largest hotel network OYO on April 13, 2017 announced the appointment of Suvesh Malhotra as VP-Engineering.

As part of OYO's technology leadership team, Suvesh will work on building technology as a core differentiator to deliver a best-in-industry user experience.

In this role, he will oversee OYO's consumer technology including consumer experience, ordering and payment platforms and data analytics to design and deliver solutions to meet evolving consumer needs.

Suvesh joins OYO from Amazon.com where he was leading technology for BuyVIP, a flash sales e-commerce platform.

A seasoned tech professional with 12 years of experience, Suvesh has a proven track record in implementing technology solutions for various businesses.

He is experienced in working on large-scale ecommerce platforms, distributed systems, machine learning based systems, mobile apps, social networking platforms and IoT technologies.

OYO in talks for partnerships with realty players

He was formerly the CTO of Stepout - India's largest social discovery platform. He has also worked with homeshop18 and Oracle in the past.

Karnataka Bank Ltd has announced top-level management changes with the present Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD and CEO) of the bank, P Jayarama Bhat, assuming the charge of part-time non-executive Chairman of the bank on Apr 12, 2017.

The Chief General Manager of the bank, Mahabaleshwara MS, who is appointed as MD and CEO of the bank, will assume office on April 15.

The board of directors of the bank appointed Mahabaleshwara as MD and CEO of the bank for a period of three years from the date of assuming charge, as per the approval received from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

This was in accordance with the board’s earlier recommendation.

The board appointed Jayarama Bhat as the new Chairman of the bank, as per the approval received from RBI, in pursuant of the board’s earlier recommendation to this effect.

The Chairman’s post was vacant since October 26 on retirement of Ananthakrishna. Jayarama Bhat assumed charge as part-time non-executive Chairman of the bank on Wednesday.

Jayarama Bhat had taken the reigns of the bank as MDand CEO on July 14 2009. Initially appointed for three years, he got extension for two terms up to July 13 2018.

Karnataka Bank: Know More

• Headquarters: Mangalore
• CEO: Polali Jayarama Bhat (14 Jul 2009)
• Founded: 1924
• Motto: Your family bank. Across India
• Number of employees: 7,669

UN chief Antonio Guterres has named a German with extensive experience at the world organization, Achim Steiner, as the new administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Steiner, who previously served at the UN Environment Programme and headed the UN office in Kenya, was selected to succeed Helen Clark, a former New Zealand prime minister, who has steered the UNDP since 2009.

Headquartered in New York City, the UNDP seeks to reduce poverty, improve social development and encourage women’s empowerment.

One of the candidates passed over for the post included French Environment Minister Segolene Royal, who said she was surprised because Guterres had promised a woman would take the job.

She intimated that Germany used its weight as a major UNDP donor to have Steiner chosen.

Headquartered in New York City, the UNDP seeks to reduce poverty, improve social development and encourage women’s empowerment.

Achim Steiner belongs to Germany who previously served at the UN Environment Programme and headed the UN office in Kenya.

Mukulita Vijayawargiya today took charge as a whole time member of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

She would look after the administrative law wing.

She will also look after Information Technology, Limited Insolvency Examination, National Insolvency Examination, Finance and Accounts and Communication,.

Vijayawargiya was a member of Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee (BLRC) based on which, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has been framed.

Dr. (Ms.) Vijayawargiya was a member of Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee (BLRC) based on which, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 has been framed.

She played a key role in drafting the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 as Additional Secretary in the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law & Justice.

Dr. Vijayawargiya served as a member of Indian Legal Service. She has vast experience of 35 years in various fields of law.

She has been associated with drafting/vetting of more than 100 legislative proposals in the legislative department.

Her previous assignment was Additional Secretary in the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India.

She has also practiced law for a period of 6 years (1979-1985) and served as an Assistant professor at Indore for some time.

Further she has been a visiting scholar in Japan and Australia and published a number of articles in various journals and is co-author of two books.

Senior bureaucrats Ajit Kumar Srivastava and Shabri Bhattasali were on April 11, 2017 appointed members of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

This is the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department.

The role of the CBDT is to provide inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in the country and the statutory authority also administers the direct tax laws through Income Tax Department.

The CBDT functions under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963.

It functions like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which combats money laundering and black money, and was formed by the G7 in 1989.

Srivastava and Bhattasali are Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre) officers of 1980 and 1981 batch respectively.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved their appointment as Members, CBDT, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.

CBDT: Know More

• The role of the CBDT is to provide inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in the country.
• It is the statutory authority which also administers the direct tax laws through Income Tax Department.
• The CBDT functions under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963.

Sandhane is the first woman chief of India's largest cooperative bank, taking charge as MD of the bank w.e.f. April 1, 2017.

Before her elevation, she was Joint MD of the bank. She has been with the bank from 1982.

Sandhane has taken over from S.K. Banerji, who retired from the services of the bank on March 31, 2017.

Banerji is now an Advisor to the bank's board.

The new MD has worked across various operational spheres at branches, departments and zones. She has served as Head - Wholesale Banking Department and Head – Planning, Accounts and Stressed Assets.

She successfully executed the merger and consolidation plans of three other co-operative banks into Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd.

She has also been critical for laying the operational road-map for their smooth transition into the bank’s mainstream business and was also instrumental in substantial recoveries in the NPA accounts of these banks.

Saraswat Bank: Know More

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 14 September 1918
• Revenue: 394.1 billion INR (US$5.9 billion, 2013–2014)
• Net income: 1.471 billion INR (2013–2014, US$22 million)
• Number of employees: 4,351

Mukta Dutta Tomar, an IFS officer of 1984 batch, has been named the country’s next ambassador to Germany.

She was serving as an additional secretary at the headquarters.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra, a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), is likely to be the country’s next envoy to France.

He will succeed Mohan Kumar who is retiring from service.

Pradeep Rawat, who is the joint secretary of East Asia at present, will be the next envoy to Indonesia.

He will succeed Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhaya, who will retire from service.

Santosh Jha, another joint secretary at the headquarters, will be the next deputy chief of mission in Washington.

He is succeeding Taranjit Sandhu, who has taken over as Indian envoy to Sri Lanka.

MEA: Know More

• Website: mea.gov.in
• Formed: 2 September 1946
• Jurisdiction: India
• Headquarters: South Block, Cabinet Secretariat, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, 110 011
• Cabinet minister: Sushma Swaraj
• Minister of state: Vijay Kumar Singh, M J Akbar
• Key executive: Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary (India)

The government has cleared retired Supreme Court judge Shiva Kirti Singh as the next chairman of the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

The appointment is for a period of three years from the date of assumption of office or “until further orders, whichever is earlier.

As per rules, the head of the dispute resolution agency for the telecom industry must be a person, who has been a Supreme Court judge, or the chief justice of a high court.

Justice Singh had served as the chief justice of Allahabad High Court before he became a judge in the apex court.

TDSAT: Know More

• The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) was established to adjudicate disputes and dispose of appeals.
• It aims to protect the interests of service providers and consumers of the telecom sector.
• It also aims to promote and ensure orderly growth of the telecom sector.
• It was established in 2000.

BoD of Larsen & Toubro on April 7, 2017 elevated SN Subrahmanyan as CEO and MD from the post of Deputy MD and President of the company.

Anil Manibhai Naik was appointed the non-executive chairman w.e.f Oct 1, 2017 for 3 years.

Subrahmanyan will take charge as CEO on July 1, 2017.

Naik, or AMN as he is popularly called, had given himself five-year extension in 2012 to restructure the complex businesses, focus on core business, exit non-core businesses and find his successor.

His current term as group executive chairman ends on September 30, 2017.

Naik was asked by BOD to provide advice, guidance and mentorship to the company’s executive management in the capacity of non-executive chairman, according to a company statement.

Naik has acceded to the Board’s request after working with L&T for over 52 years.

L&T: Know More

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Key Subsidiaries: Larsen & Toubro Infotech, L & T Mutual Fund
• Founders: Søren Kristian Toubro, Henning Holck-Larsen

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Trichy on 5th April 2017 announced that Bhimaraya Metri, an expert in project management, has joined the institute as its new director.

Prior to joining IIM Trichy, Metri was the dean at L&T Institute of Project Management, Vadodara.

He also served as a professor and dean at MDI Gurgaon, IMI, New Delhi and as professor in-charge of the PhD programmes at BITS, Pilani.

Metri has rich academic administrative experience.

An authority in the field of quality, project management and SCM, Metri has published over 100 research articles.

He has also co-authored six books.

He is on the editorial advisory boards of national and international journals.

Metri has more than 25 years of experience in teaching, training, research and consulting, the statement said.

He succeeds Prafulla Agnihotri who was the B-school's founding director.Prior to joining IIM Trichy, Metri was the Dean at L&T Institute of Project Management, Vadodara.

Metri received his Ph.D from IIT Powai, Mumbai and obtained his B.E from Govt. College of Engineering, Karad, and M.E. from Shivaji University, Kolhapur.

He is the member of Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) USA and Institute of Supply Management (ISM) USA.

Metri was on the Board of Directors of DSI and is the first Indian elected as the Vice President (Asia Pacific Division), Decision Sciences Institute (DSI), Texas, USA.

IT industry body NASSCOM has appointed Quatrro CMD Raman Roy its Chairman for 2017-18.

It has also named Rishad Premji, Wipro Chief Strategy Officer and son of technology czar Azim Premji, as the Vice-Chairman.

Roy, who served as the Vice-Chairman in the previous fiscal, will take on the new role from April 6.

He takes over the mantle from C P Gurnani, Managing Director and CEO of Tech Mahindra.

Nasscom expects 8-10% industry growth in FY18

Building India's innovation edge is another key priority and the industry body plans to scale up start-ups and centre of excellence initiatives to the next level.

The over USD 140 billion Indian IT industry faces a number of headwinds like growing protectionism from various countries and business shifts towards digital.

Nasscom sees 20-25% less IT jobs in the next three years

Roy, along with Rishad and Chandrashekhar, will lead Nasscom to carry out its diverse array of priorities.

The leadership team will also work towards further strengthening various sector councils and focus on enhanced member outreach and involvement.

NASSCOM: Know More

• Founded: 1 March 1988
• Membership: 2300+
• Purpose: Trade association
• Chairman: Raman Roy
• Headquarters: Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
• Founders: Dewang Mehta, Nandan Nilekani

The Reserve Bank has appointed Malvika Sinha as Executive Director following the appointment of B P Kanungo as Deputy Governor.

Sinha took charge on April 3.

As Executive Director, she will look after foreign exchange department, department of government and bank accounts and internal debt management wing.

Kanungo was Executive Director of the Reserve Bank before being elevated to the post of Deputy Governor.

Sinha had joined the Reserve Bank in 1982 and as a career central banker served in the areas of regulation and supervision, foreign exchange and government and bank accounts.

Prior to being promoted as ED, she was Principal Chief General Manager, Department of Cooperative Banking Supervision in the Reserve Bank.

Sinha holds a Masters Degree from University of Bombay and has done her Masters in Public Administration. She is also a Certificated Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.

Justice Indira Banerjee was on 31 March 2017 appointed as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court.

Currently, she is serving as the judge of the Delhi High Court.

She succeeds Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who was transferred to the Supreme Court in February 2017.

Following this, Justice Banerjee became the second woman to head the Madras High Court.

Justice Kanta Kumari Bhatnagar was the first lady to head the charted court in 1992.

About Indira Banerjee

• Born in September 1957, Justice Banerjee enrolled as an advocate in 1985.
• She practiced both in the original and appellate sides of Calcutta High Court.
• She was appointed as permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court in February 2002.
• She was transferred to Delhi High Court in August 2016.

Rajiv Kumar Chander, a 1983 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, was on Thursday appointed the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the UN offices in Geneva.

Chander, who at present is the Consul General in Vancouver, Canada, is expected to take up his new assignment shortly.

He will succeed Ajit Kumar at the Geneva office.

Chander earlier served as Deputy Permanent Representative in the Geneva office from 2006 to 2009.

His first assignment abroad was at the Embassy of India in Moscow, after which he returned to New Delhi to handle political work relating to Bangladesh.

He was posted to Germany in the early 1990s where he worked as First Secretary/Counsellor (Political) and then in New Delhi as Director (UN).

Chander was posted to St. Petersburg as Consul General from 2000 to 2002.

He proceeded on deputation to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) headquarters based in Kathmandu for four years.

He was in-charge in New Delhi of political work relating to Gulf countries as well as Haj related matters.

Chander served as India’s Ambassador to Ukraine from July 2011 to July 2015.

Indian-origin South African billionaire Iqbal Surve has been appointed as chairperson of the country’s BRICS Business Council.

This has underlined the need for strengthening trade ties with countries like India and China.

Straight after his appointment by the South African government, Surve, headed to New Delhi for the mid-term meeting of the Brics Councils from other countries in the bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

He highlighted importance to strengthen ties with China and India.

Surve, the chairperson of Sekunjalo Group and Independent Media, has interests in media, technology and healthcare.

He is a founding member of the BRICS Business Council and the Clinton Global Initiative; he additionally serves on a number of multi-lateral institutions and global organisations.

Surve served as the first chairperson of the World Economic Forum Global Growth Companies Advisory Board and vice chairperson of the Global Agenda Council for Emerging Multinationals.

He is a participant member of the G20 meeting and serves on B20 Task Teams as well as the Unga private sector forum.

BRICS Business Council: Know More

BRICS BUSINESS COUNCIL

The BRICS Business Council was established during the Fifth BRICS Summit held on 26th - 27th March 2013 in Durban, South Africa.
The objective of creating the council was to constitute a platform which will:

• Promote and strengthen business, trade and investment ties amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries;
  
• Ensure that there is regular dialogue between the business communities of the BRICS nations and the Governments of the BRICS countries; and
• Identify problems and bottlenecks to ensure greater economic, trade and investment ties amongst the BRICS countries and recommend solutions accordingly.

National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC), India’s leading provider of integrated commodity and collateral management services of agri-commodities announced appointment of Maninder Singh Juneja as the CMD.

Juneja joined True North (erstwhile India Value Fund Associates) in December 2016 as the managing director which owns 100 per cent of NBHC.

Juneja takes over from Anil Choudhary, founder MD & CEO, NBHC, who will continue to associate with NBHC as an executive vice-chairman in the company.

Juneja was previously associated with ICICI BankBSE -1.53 % as senior general manager.

The changing agriculture and banking policies paradigm is creating new opportunities in terms of being able to serve farmers.

The new CMD aims to take NBHC forward, build synergies and craft linkage with other financial services, create value.

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Sunaina Singh, currently head of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad, as the new vice chancellor of Nalanda University.

As per rules, the president has to choose the vice-chancellor from a group of at least three names forwarded by the university’s governing board.

As per sources, 135 names were screened, while six applicants were called for interviews.

Nalanda University is a flagship initiative formed under India’s Act East policy, which was first proposed at the East Asia Summit in 2007.

It was envisioned as a project to evoke India’s historical and cultural linkages with South East Asia and beyond.

Earlier on January 27, President Mukherjee appointed computer scientist and former IIT Delhi board chairman, Vijay Bhatkar – who is also the president of the RSS-affiliated Vijnana Bharati – as the university’s chancellor.

The EFLU unfurled the national flag on a 108-feet flagpole – touted as the “tallest flagpole among all central universities in the country”.

In February 2016, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had said universities should fly the flag prominently in order to ‘instil a sense of patriotism’ in students.

Singh has also served as the president of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute from 2009 to 2011. Before that she was the chairperson of Osmania University’s English department.

The term of the university’s first vice-chancellor, Gopa Sabharwal ended on November 24.

Sabharwal’s original term ended in November 2015, but she was given a one-year term extension.

President Mukherjee, acting on the Modi government’s advice, had reconstituted the governing board by dissolving the Amartya Sen-led Nalanda Mentors Group, which had been operating as the board.

Claiming that he had not been consulted before the president made his decision, George Yeo, former Singapore foreign minister and then university chancellor, also resigned.

Vanaja N. Sarna on March 31, 2017 was appointed as the new chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), following retirement from service of incumbent Najib Shah, an official statement said.

Sarna, presently holding the charge as Member (Administration), has been appointed as Chairman, CBEC.

She is taking over on superannuation of Najib Shah (March 31).

Prior to becoming Member of the CBEC, she held the charge of Director General of Vigilance and Chief Vigilance Officer of the Department.

Sarna has served CBEC in several capacities over the last 36 years, including stints in customs, central excise and service tax formations in Kochi, Delhi, Chennai, Meerut, Chandigarh and Bangalore.

She has also worked as Additional Director General, National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics (NACEN) in Chennai.

She was also Additional Director General in Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence, New Delhi.

She has served on deputation as Under Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and as Director/Joint Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.