Movers & Shakers

In a significant move, R. Manikandan has left LG India to join HP IPG group. Manikandan has been appointed as the Director for Inkjet Web Solutions at HP India.

R. Manikandan, who has been associated with LG for quite a long time, has been appointed as Director for Inkjet Web Solutions at HP India. Manikandan was not available for comment, but this has been confirmed by industry sources and senior officials at HP on condition of anonymity.

At LG, Manikandan served as its Business Head for B2B and Business Solutions. Manikandan joined LG as the Senior General Manager - Sales & Marketing (IT Products). Prior to his stint at LG, Manikandan headed Sales at Acer Communications and Multimedia.

3i Infotech elevates Pankaj Chawla 

3i Infotech has announced the appointment of Pankaj Chawla as President of its India, Middle East, APAC and Africa markets. Earlier, Chawla was Head of Middle East, Africa, Russia & CIS regions.

Commenting on his new role, Pankaj Chawla, President, Middle East, India, APAC & Africa, 3i Infotech, said, "I am delighted to be given greater responsibility and new challenges. My new role will include driving the operations across many of the world's emerging and high growth markets, and taking 3i Infotech to greater heights in these markets."

In the South Asia region, Pankaj Chawla will be assisted by Narayan V, who has recently been assigned the role of Region Head - South Asia. Narayan has earlier been associated with 3i Infotech as Vice-President & Region Head -Middle East and North Africa.

Tata Communications gets new MD & CEO

Vinod Kumar has been appointed as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Tata Communications. He replaces N. Srinath who has been appointed as Managing Director & CEO at Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra). Srinath will continue to be a non-Executive Director on the board of Tata Communications and some of its subsidiary / associate companies such as Neotel.

Vinod Kumar has over 20 years of experience in the global telecom industry and he joined Tata Communications in April 2004, just when the company was embarking on its international growth.

Wipro's T. K. Kurien gets promoted

Wipro has announced the appointment of T. K. Kurien as Chief Executive Officer of the Information Technology (IT) business and Executive Director of the company. Kurien is currently the President of Wipro EcoEnergy, the cleantech business division of Wipro. According to industry analysts, the appointment of Kurien as CEO is aimed at improving IT business of the company.

The company also said the current Joint CEOs of the IT business Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani have decided to step down from their responsibilities effective February 1, 2011. Girish Paranjpe, Suresh Vaswani and T. K. Kurien will work together through quarter ending March 31, 2011 to ensure a smooth transition.

Padma Vibhushan conferred on Azim Premji

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji was conferred Padma Vibhushan, among the representatives of trade and industry. In the list of 128 awardees for Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs, members of trade and industry were represented in equal measure, accounting for some dozen honours.

Infosys Chief Executive Kris Gopalakrishnan, ITC's Yogi Deveshwar, Dr. Reddy Labs' Anji Reddi, Max Group's Analjit Singh, NIIT's Rajendra S. Pawar, GVK Group's G.V.K. Reddy, HCL's Ajai Chowdhary, and ICICI Bank's Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar were in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees.

Attero Recycling Board gets first "Independent Director"

In a significant development in the rapidly-evolving e-waste recycling sector, former National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) President Kiran Karnik has joined the Attero Recycling Board as the first "Independent Director" since the company's inception in 2008.

Kiran Karnik said, "I am excited to join the Attero family. This organization is innovative and has many exciting plans on the anvil. It has grown consistently over the past years and I am looking forward to working with the management team to help Attero consolidate its leadership position in this space."

Samsung India appoints Raj Kumar Rishi as Vice-President, AV Business

Samsung India has appointed Raj Kumar Rishi as Vice-President & Business Head for its Audio Visual (AV) business. In this role, Rishi will be responsible for managing sales and marketing of Samsung's AV portfolio that comprises of Flat Panel, LED, LCD TVs, Home Theatre and Digital Imaging products like cameras and camcorders.

Raj Kumar Rishi has handled several strategic and leadership positions in sales and marketing functions during his career spanning over two decades. An alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, Raj Rishi has done his B.E. in Electronics & Communications and commenced his career with Uptron India in 1988. Since then, he has worked with renowned brands such as TVS Electronics Ltd. and has had 17-year stint with Hewlett-Packard India.

Ashok Soota to resign from MindTree

MindTree has announced that Ashok Soota, Founder & Executive Chairman of MindTree, has communicated to the Board of Directors that he would like to move on from his current role by 31st March, 2011 and pursue something new outside MindTree. MindTree acknowledges his leadership and selfless contribution during the last decade, bringing MindTree from a fledgling start-up to a 10,000-people, globally-admired, organization that it is today.