Bharti Enterprises makes top organisational changes

Bharti Enterprise, the holding company of the country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel, has announced a new organisation structure, effective 1 April 2014.

Under the new structure, the Bharti Corporate Office will focus on and deal with matters of governance. Accordingly, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises and three vice chairmen - Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Rajan Bharti Mittal and Akhil Gupta, along with managing director, Manoj Kohli - and four Bharti veterans, will form the Bharti Governance Board (BGB).

The company has also designated Akhil Gupta as chairman of Bharti Infratel and vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises. He will also serve on other Bharti boards.

Bharti Infratel chief executive officer D S Rawat has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer of Bharti Infratel. He is also being inducted into the company's board.

Kohli will relinquish his position as managing director and CEO (International) Bharti Airtel and will take over as managing director of Bharti Enterprises. He will lead all non-telecom businesses of the group such as retail, insurance, food and agriculture, realty and others, and work closely with the respective managing directors and CEOs.

Kohli will also be responsible for business development, corporate and shareholder relations on a group wide basis. In addition, Kohli will serve on various Bharti boards including Airtel and be the Chairman of Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV that owns Airtel's African operations.

Christian de Faria will be appointed by Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV as the managing director and CEO (Africa), and will assume full operational responsibility of the company's operations across 17 African geographies.

As part of restructuring, Bharti Airtel's Bangladesh and Sri Lanka operations are being brought back under South Asia operations. Gopal Vittal, currently Jt. MD & CEO (India), will now be the Managing Director and CEO (India & South Asia).

For the listed companies, the supremacy of the respective boards will be complimented by highly-empowered professionals and management bodies led by the managing director and a CEO.

For professional and structured oversight of the non-listed group companies, a new position of managing director–Bharti Enterprises has been created.

''The new structure reflects the next phase of Bharti's growth journey, which will be led by best-in-class professionals in various segments. This is another step towards transforming the group from entrepreneur-led professional-backed to a professional-led entrepreneur-backed one. I wish my very best to the chosen leaders in their respective new roles,'' said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises.