Bharti Enterprises today announced that Manoj Kohli will relinquish his position as Managing Director & CEO (International) of Bharti Airtel and will take over as Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises to lead the oversight of all non-telecom businesses of the group.

Bharti has interest in Retail, Insurance, Food & Agri, Realty businesses. Manoj will also be responsible for Business Development, Corporate and Shareholder Relations on a group-wide basis. In addition, Manoj will serve on various Bharti boards including Airtel and be the Chairman of Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV, that owns Airtel’s African operations.

This is part of a new organisation structure designed to provide enhanced empowerment to top management teams and to further strengthen corporate governance. The new structure will be effective April 1, 2014.

Under the new structure, the Bharti Corporate Office will be focused on and deal with matters of governance. Accordingly, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises; 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).

For the listed companies, the supremacy of the respective boards will be complemented by highly empowered professionals and management bodies led by the MD and CEO. For professional and structured oversight of the non-listed group companies, a new position of Managing Director – Bharti Enterprises is being created.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said, “The new structure reflects the next phase of Bharti’s growth journey, which will be led by best-in-class professionals in various segments. Bharti has always championed the empowerment of its people and set high standards of corporate governance. 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.”

Specific changes:

Akhil Gupta has been designated as Chairman of Bharti Infratel and Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and will serve on other Bharti boards.

DS Rawat , CEO, Bharti Infratel, has been appointed as MD and CEO of Bharti Infratel and is being inducted into the board.

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).

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