Aravind Sitaraman quits Cisco after 18-year stint

BL 15 Sep 14

Aravind Sitaraman, President – Inclusive Growth, Cisco Systems, has ended his 18-year stint with Cisco and will leave the company on September 20.

Sitaraman said he plans to work with start-ups in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad, and advise them on technology strategy.

“It is my fond hope that before I die, we can create the next Cisco, Microsoft, Facebook or Google out of India. I want to empower start-ups to be able to achieve technology excellence that can propel them into that space. I have been approached by start-ups across the country, who want me as their technology advisor and on their Board and I will be happy to start working with them,” Sitaraman toldBusinessLine.

He will also be working with universities in Bangalore and Pune to create entrepreneurs and successful start-ups. “I will be working with the universities to try to create a unique model of entrepreneurship in India,” he said.

A computer scientist with over 29 years of experience, Sitaraman was one of Cisco Systems’ leading inventors, with 57 patents. As the Managing Director of the Cisco Development Organisation, he managed the company’s R&D activities in India from 2007-09.

He sponsored the Innovation Hub to incubate new technologies and in 2009, started the Emerging Countries Solutions and Services Business Unit.

He led Cisco India’s CSR efforts and launched several successful programmes, including ‘Feed-a-Child’ and ‘Adopt-a-School.’ He rehabilitated tsunami victims in South India, helped flood relief efforts in Karnataka in 2009, and became the Executive Sponsor for Project Samudaya, a volunteer-led programme to rehabilitate villages through technology and build 3,323 homes, one hospital and two schools.

In October 2010, he was appointed President, Inclusive Growth. Recognising his social contribution, the Karnataka Government conferred on him its highest civilian decoration, the Rajyotsava Award, in 2012. Sitaraman led a team of 15-20 engineers and sales staff in his role as President, Inclusive Growth.

Asked if the inclusive business unit was being disbanded, given the company’s moves to restructure operations, he said: “Not at all. Inclusive Growth will be absorbed under a different business unit and will continue its good work.” However, Sitaraman declined to say which business unit.

During the company’s earnings call last month, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, announced that FY15 will see restructuring actions that will impact up to 6,000 employees or about 8 per cent of Cisco’s global workforce.

Kumar Mangalam Birla resigns from RBI central board

BL :Mumbai, July 23: 2013

Birla has been on the RBI’s central board for the past six years. 

The RBI’s updated list of Directors of the Central Board does not mention Birla’s name, according to the RBI Web site.

Earlier this month, RBI Governor D. Subbarao said the central bank would consult the government on the same.

 

D Shivakumar, Nokia's emerging markets head, quits after eight-year stint

28 MAR, 2013, 06.47PM IST, JOJI THOMAS PHILIP,ET BUREAU 

NEW DELHI: Nokia's operations head for India, West Asia and Africa, D Shivakumar has quit the Finnish handset major after an eight-year stint with the company. 

Shivakumar, who is currently based out of Dubai, and oversees the beleaguered handset major's operations in about 90 countries, told ETthat he was headed back to India after the June quarter as he 'believed that opportunities and growth were here'. 

Before moving to a global role in late 2011, Shivakumar was heading Nokia's operations in India. 

Nokia's Senior Vice President for emerging markets - India, Middle East and Africa Region - declined to reveal where he would be joining on returning to India, but said that he would not be associated with mobility, telecommunications and FMCG in his future endeavors.

Prior to joining Nokia India in 2006, he was heading the consumer electronics business of Philips . Shivakumar had passed out fromIIT Madras in 1982 and IIM Calcuttain 1984. 

"When I joined Nokia, India had about 80 mobile phone subscribers. Today it is over 900 million. I believe that Nokia too had a role to play in this along with mobile operators," he said. 

This period also saw Nokia losing its dominance globally in the handset space and it now trails South Korea'sSamsung in both volumes and value. 

From the heydays of over 70% market share a couple of years ago, when it dominated the handset scene here, the company currently accounts for only about a fourth of the handset sales in India. 

But despite falling sales, India continues to be the second largest market for the Finnish handset major after China. India generated revenues to the tune of 2.227 billion in 2012 as against 2.923 billion in 2011 and 2.952 billion in 2010, Nokia said in its annual report. Globally, Nokia betting on the latest range from Lumia line will bring about its long-hoped for recovery. In January 2013, the handset major said its fourth quarter results had exceeded expectations and added that the sales of its Windows-based Lumia had nearly doubled, when compared the previous quarter in the same year. This also marked the first increase in its smartphone numbers in a year. 

Sundaram AMC’s equity head resigns

Satish Ramanathan. Queries sent to the corporate communications division at Sundaram Asset Management on the subject didn’t elicit a response.

Kayezad E. Adajania :mint : Thu, Dec 06 2012. 11 17 PM IST


The fund house is in search of a successor to Satish Ramanathan, two persons said

Mumbai: Sundaram Asset Management Co. (AMC) Ltd’s head of equities Satish Ramanathan has resigned, two persons close to the development said on Thursday.

The fund house, India’s 13th largest by assets under management, is in search of a successor to Ramanathan, the two persons said.

Queries sent to the corporate communications division at Sundaram Asset Management on the subject didn’t elicit a response.

The company is expected to make an announcement within a day or two, the persons said.

Launched in 1997, the 15-year-old fund house was a performance leader at one time. Its flagship Sundaram Select Mid-cap Fund was one of the best-performing mid-cap schemes and finished in the top 10 between 2003 and 2007. In the past three years, however, its equity schemes haven’t done as well.

Of the five diversified equity funds it has, according to Value Research, a mutual fund tracker (thematic and sector funds have been omitted), three underperformed their respective category averages in 2010 and 2011.

The fund house’s new managing director, Harsha Viji, who took over the reins in July, “means business”, according to a market expert.

This market expert said that Viji’s focus on performance initiated the change in the fund management.

“Viji has been making subtle, but far-reaching changes in the fund house ever since he joined because performance is paramount to him,” said a person at the fund house on condition of anonymity.

Harsha Viji is the great-grandson of T.V. Sundaram Iyengar, the founder of the TVS Group (Sundaram AMC is a part of the TVS Group).

Viji’s father, Santhanam Viji, is chairman of Sundaram Finance Ltd, the AMC’s sponsor and one of TVS Group’s several companies.

In addition to the five equity diversified funds, Sundaram AMC also has a few thematic and sectoral funds that focus on sectors such as energy, financial services, rural consumption and capital goods companies.

Some of these funds have also been hit hard, as have most in many of these sectors, especially those related to the infrastructure sector, on account of the slowdown in the economy.

The fund executive cited earlier said Viji may initiate a merger in some of its equity schemes. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has been subtly nudging the Rs.7.68 crore Indian mutual funds (MF) industry to consolidate some schemes and bring down the total number of offerings from