Ashish Guha appointed country head, Mysore Cements
Kolkata: HeidelbergCement has announced the appointment of Ashish Guha as its country head, India. Guha will be responsible for all operations in India including its operations through joint ventures and acquisitions. HeidelbergCement currently has a stake in IndoRama with a capacity of one million tonnes, primarily catering to the Mumbai market.

Guha will report to Daniel Gauthfer, CEO, Asia, Africe, and West Asia-Benelux HC Trading. S.K. Birla will be the non-executive chairman and Sidharth Birla will be the director of the company.
Back to News Review index page  

ONGC's vacant top post gets record applications
New Delhi: The last date for receiving applications for the top job at Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) closed today.

Sources said more than 10 candidates are in the fray, whose names would be forwarded to the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB). The last date for receipt of applications given by the Ministry was July 15.

The CMD's post fell vacant after Subir Raha completed his five year term in May this year.

The names in the reckoning for the top job include that of the director-general Hydrocarbons, V.K. Sibal. A number of ONGC top personnel are also in the fray. These include acting chairman and managing director, R.S. Sharma, director Human Resources, A.K. Balyan, director (exploration), D.K. Pande, the director (offshore), N.K. Mittra, and the director (onshore), A.K. Hazarika.

Besides these, two directors of GAIL (India) Ltd - U.D. Choubey, director (marketing), and M.R. Hingikar, director (Human Resources) - are also among the applicants.

Also, the managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), R.S. Butola, and a director of Indian Oil Corporation are said to have applied.
Back to News Review index page  

Swati Piramal gets French government award
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India (NPIL) Director, Dr Swati Piramal, has been conferred the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (Knight of the Order of Merit) by the French Government. The award was for Dr Piramal's contribution towards the development of Indo-French relations in medicine and trade. The award was conferred by the Ambassador of France Mr Dominique Girard, here on Wednesday.

NPIL had a strategic alliance with Pierre Fabre, France's second largest pharmaceutical company. The company manufactures, markets and distributes Pierre Fabre products (dermatology and oncology) in India. NPIL also has partnerships with French companies, Sanofi-Aventis in the diabetes segment, Mundipharma and Ethypharm.Ipsen.
Back to News Review index page  

Sameer Nagarajan appointed VP, Astra Zeneca
AstraZeneca Pharma India has announced the appointment of Sameer Nagarajan as vice-president, human resources. Prior to this, he worked as head of human resources with India Gypsum in Mumbai, a subsidiary of BPB plc.
Back to News Review index page  

Nageshwara Rao appointed head of IDBI's insurance venture
Mumbai: G. V. Nageshwara Rao, head of IDBI commercial banking strategic business unit, will head its insurance joint venture. His appointment was announced by V. P. Shetty, chairman and managing director, IDBI Ltd, at the bank's annual general meeting.
Rao was the managing director and CEO of IDBI Bank, before it merged with IDBI Ltd in October 2004. The insurance venture is being set up jointly with Fortis and Federal Bank, with IDBI having majority stake of 48 per cent. Fortis and Federal Bank will have 26 per cent stake each.

The bank is also planning to hire about 600 additional officers through direct campus recruitment. In the first quarter, IDBI hired 370 personnel. The attrition in the bank is in the same levels as the industry. "It is a natural phenomena because the financial sector is booming. Public sector banks have become a training ground today," he said.
Back to News Review index page