KPMG India board has elected Arun Kumar as chairman and CEO to lead the India operations of the consulting and accounting major.
He succeeds Richard Rekhy, who stepped down in November last year following a large scale exodus of key people from the advisory team.
In Jan 2016, Rekhy had been re-elected for a four year term.
Kumar, who spent the majority of his career with KPMG in the US, will take charge from February 5 for a five-year term.
He joins the firm at a time when the Big Four accounting and audit firms are jostling for market share following mandatory rotation of auditors as prescribed under the Companies Act 2013.
In 2016, Deloitte, the market leader in the audit space, had turned away key people from KPMG’s advisory team.
Deloitte is in the process of strengthening its advisory practice in India.
Arun Kumar brings a wealth of international leadership experience to KPMG India, including his tenure in public service in the United States for the last three years as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of US and Foreign Commercial Service in the Obama administration.
KPMG: Know More- Headquarters: Amstelveen, Netherlands
- Revenue: 25.42 billion USD (2016)
- Founded: 1987
- Number of employees: 188,982
- Founders: Klynveld Main Goerdeler, Marwick Mitchell & Co., Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co., William Barclay Peat & Co.
