ABB India Limited announced the re-appointment of V K Viswanathan as Independent Director on the company’s Board, with effect from November 13, 2022.
According to the company’s exchange filing, “we wish to inform you that based on the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, the Board at its meeting held on August 9, 2022, has recommended re-appointment of Mr V K Viswanathan as Non-executive and Independent Director for a second term of two years effective November 13, 2022 for approval of Members of the Company by way of Postal Ballot.”
Vish Viswanathan joined the Bosch Group, Germany in August 1998 and worked in its global headquarters at Stuttgart for about 2 1Z years. He took over as Joint Managing Director and CFO of Bosch Limited, India in January 2001 responsible for all Commercial, Finance, IT, HR matters besides Business Strategy. Under his leadership, Bosch India witnessed a very strong and sustained growth through continuous innovation, focused market oriented approach and excellence in execution thereby significantly enhancing value creation for all stakeholders.
He was seconded to Robert Bosch, USA beginning 2006 as Senior Vice President in the Automotive Electronics and Electrical Division, North America and subsequently he became the Regional President of the Electrical Drives Division in USA. After successfully completing his assignment, he returned to India as President and Country Head of Bosch Group in India and Managing Director of Bosch Limited beginning 2008. During his five years at the helm, the Bosch group recorded excellent growth in sales turnover and profitability. After he superannuated on 31.12.2012, he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bosch Limited from 01.07.2013 till 23.08.2019.
The Bosch Group in India today boasts of six legal entities having a combined turnover of more than Rs. 170 billion (~2.5 bin USD)in 2015 with a strong presence in Automotive Technology, Power Tools, Security Technology, Packaging Technology, Hydraulics, Embedded Software, Information Technology, Renewable Energy and Consumer Durables. Bosch group’s turnover in India grew nearly 8 times in the last 12 years between 2003 and 2015. The group directly employs 28000 people in India and is poised to scale even greater heights in the next decade because of its strong foundation and market leadership.
Prior to joining Bosch, Vish worked in Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) in many senior leadership positions both in India and abroad for 17 years.
After working with Tata Consultancy Services for 5 years, Viswanathan joined Unilever Group as Management Accountant in 1982. He quickly rose to the position of Commercial Manager (Beverages) in 1985. He played a key role in transforming the loss making Beverages business into a strong and profitable division within a short span of 3 years.
He was later seconded to Unilever Head Quarters in London for a 3 year assignment as Audit Head with responsibility for all the countries in Asia Pacific region.
He returned to Hindustan Unilever Limited in 1992 as Group Treasurer. Later in 1993 he became Financial Controller and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and continued till 1998. During his stint in Unilever India, many high profile and big ticket mergers and acquisitions were successfully transacted and a new group architecture was designed and implemented by reorganizing and restructuring the 7 Unilever companies into 1 consolidated entity named Hindustan Unilever Limited.
Viswanathan, is a Commerce Graduate from Madras University and a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has attended several advanced leadership management training programs in many prestigious institutions including Stanford University, USA. He has a flair for teaching and has given many key note speeches at national and international events and at Indian Institutes of Management.
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