Category: Leaders

Categories
Leaders

Hinduja Group Chairman Dies At 85 In London

Gopichand P Hinduja, the chairman of the Hinduja Group, died in a London hospital on Tuesday. He was 85.

Gopichand Hinduja joined the family business in 1950 and played a key role in expanding the group’s footprint across automotive, banking and finance, IT, healthcare, power, real estate, and media sectors. The group’s flagship companies include Ashok Leyland, IndusInd Bank, and NXTDIGITAL.

Known as ‘GP’ in business circles, Gopichand graduated from Bombay Jai Hind College and held honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Westminster and Richmond College, according to the company’s website.

The Sunday Times Rich List 2025 ranked the Hinduja family as the UK’s richest, with a fortune of £32.3 billion. Gopichand Hinduja is survived by his wife Sunita, two sons Sanjay and Dheeraj, and a daughter Rita.

The Hinduja Group has businesses in eleven sectors, including automotive, banking and finance, IT, healthcare, real estate, power, and media and entertainment. Some of its well-known brands include Ashok Leyland, IndusInd Bank, and NXTDIGITAL Limited.

Categories
Leaders

SpiceJet names ex-IndiGo Sanjay Kumar as Executive Director

SpiceJet has appointed former IndiGo executive Sanjay Kumar as Executive Director to be entrusted with leading growth initiatives and optimizing operations.

With over three decades of aviation experience, Kumar will report directly to Chairman Ajay Singh, effective November 3, 2025.

Kumar’s appointment comes after the airline posted a net loss in the first quarter of FY26 and tackles financial and operational hurdles, seeking a turnaround through fleet expansion and debt restructuring.

Kumar has earlier served in key positions, including Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer at IndiGo, and held leadership roles as President & CEO at InterGlobe Technology Quotient and Chief Operating Officer at AirAsia India.

SpiceJet recently announced that it will run 250 flights daily in its Winter 2025 schedule, up from 125 daily flights last summer and 150 daily flights in the previous winter season.

Also Read: IT Withdraws ₹8,500 Cr Tax Claim on Vodafone

Categories
Leaders

Goldman, JPMorgan CEOs Flag US Debt Risks

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has joined JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon in warning that the United States’ swelling national debt could pose long-term risks to economic stability if growth fails to keep pace.

Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington, Solomon said the US debt, now exceeding $38 trillion, is less alarming for its size than for its rising debt-to-GDP ratio. “If we continue on the current course and don’t take the growth level up, there will be a reckoning,” he said.

He stressed that the issue is not yet a crisis but called for stronger productivity to sustain fiscal health. Solomon sees technology and artificial intelligence as key growth drivers capable of lifting output and offsetting debt pressures. “The path out is a growth path,” he noted, urging that AI be embedded across industries to enhance efficiency.

His comments align with Dimon’s long-standing warnings that unchecked borrowing could eventually unsettle bond markets. The JPMorgan CEO has cautioned that “one day, the bond markets are gonna have a tough time,” though the timing is uncertain. He advocates growth-oriented reforms, including regulatory simplification and workforce development, to rebuild fiscal resilience.

Dimon has also criticised market complacency despite the US losing its triple-A credit rating this year. Analysts warn that rising interest costs and persistent deficits could restrict future government spending flexibility.

Both executives agree the US remains economically strong but must act before confidence erodes. “The US  is still the best house in a tough neighbourhood,” Solomon said, “but we can’t ignore the cracks in the foundation.”

Also Read: Adani Power Invokes Arbitration Clause in Bangladesh Dispute

Categories
Leaders

Colliers India and ME CMD Sankey Prasad Quits

After a distinguished tenure, Sankey Prasad has stepped down from his role as Chairman and Managing Director of both Colliers India and Colliers Project Leaders, marking the end of a significant chapter in his leadership career.

His resignation comes as the global property services firm prepares to usher in new leadership across its India and Middle East operations.

Prasad’s departure was announced in a statement issued on October 28, 2025, in which he expressed his intention to shift his focus toward entrepreneurial ventures and to provide strategic board-level advisory support to clients across the real estate, infrastructure and capital-projects domains.

The statement noted that while he is relinquishing his executive leadership roles, he will continue to hold a stake in the Middle East business of Colliers Project Leaders.

Prasad’s tenure at Colliers included leading the company’s project-management and design-build consultancy business in India and expanding his remit to the Middle East.

He built a track record of overseeing large-scale assignments and driving growth in new geographies, having earlier founded one of India’s largest project-management firms and integrating it into Colliers after an acquisition.

Under his stewardship, Colliers India diversified its service offering, scaled operations across real-estate asset classes and strengthened its regional footprint.

The firm will now look to maintain momentum under new executives who will step in to carry forward the growth agenda set during Prasad’s era.

While details of his successor have not yet been publicly announced, the company has signalled that its India business and Middle East project-management operations will continue to support large-scale developer and investor mandates across emerging markets.

Prasad’s next phase, as he described it, will center on selective entrepreneurial opportunities and providing high-level advisory input to developers, infrastructure firms and investors working across India, the Middle East and North Africa.

By repositioning himself as a strategic adviser and entrepreneur, he aims to harness his decades of industry experience and his deep understanding of large capital-project delivery to new ventures and board roles.

Industry observers view Prasad’s exit from day-to-day operations as natural in a leader’s career arc, but one whose timing is telling given the current inflection point in real-estate and capital-projects markets in India and the Gulf region.

His shift away from full-time executive responsibilities suggests a move toward ecosystem leadership—supporting transformation, advising on governance and guiding growth rather than managing operational execution.

For Colliers, the departure of a leader with both local market depth and a global mindset means it now must balance continuity with change.

Ensuring the transition is smooth and that client relationships remain anchored will be critical, especially as the firm competes for large-scale contracts and seeks to capture the next wave of project-management growth in emerging markets.

As Prasad begins the next chapter of his professional journey, his decision to pivot into entrepreneurship and strategic advisory underscores the evolving role senior executives play in real estate and infrastructure: moving from operators to orchestrators, from build-outs to boardrooms.

Also Read: Tata Sierra to Relaunch on November 25

Categories
Leaders

Zarin Daruwala Appointed Group CEO of PL Capital

Zarin Daruwala, a seasoned banking executive with over 35 years of experience, has been appointed as the Group Chief Executive Officer of PL Capital, the financial services arm of the Prabhudas Lilladher Group.

Her appointment, effective October 13, 2025, marks a significant milestone in the company’s plans to expand across multiple financial services verticals.

Prior to joining PL Capital, Daruwala served as the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank for India and South Asia from 2016 until her retirement in April 2025.

During her tenure, she transformed the bank’s operations, focusing on wealth management and corporate banking to align with India’s growing affluence.

Under her leadership, Standard Chartered India became one of the group’s top-performing markets, achieving sustained growth and operational excellence.

At PL Capital, Daruwala is expected to lead the company’s expansion across broking and distribution, institutional equities, investment banking, corporate advisory, private credit, wealth management, and asset management services.

Her appointment is seen as a strategic move to strengthen the firm’s position in India’s financial services sector and to drive its ambitious growth and diversification plans.

Amisha Vora, Chairperson and Managing Director of PL Capital, described Daruwala’s appointment as a defining moment for the company.

Vora emphasized that Daruwala’s extensive experience and strategic vision will be instrumental in building an enduring, institutionally governed organization that combines heritage and trust with scale and capability.

Daruwala expressed enthusiasm for her new role, highlighting PL Capital’s strong foundation, deep market knowledge, and client-first ethos.

She said she is energized by the vision to create a future-ready financial services platform that delivers innovation, value, and impact. Daruwala also noted her eagerness to collaborate with the leadership team to shape the next era of growth for the company.

Industry analysts view Daruwala’s appointment as a significant step for PL Capital, signaling the firm’s commitment to scaling its businesses while investing in technology, talent, and innovative solutions.

With her extensive expertise in corporate and retail banking, governance, and strategic leadership, Daruwala is expected to play a key role in positioning PL Capital as a leading financial services platform in India and beyond.

Her appointment underscores the company’s focus on transformative growth, reinforcing its strategy to leverage market opportunities, enhance client offerings, and strengthen its competitive position across all business verticals.

Also Read: Amazon Crosses US$20 Billion in Exports From India

Categories
Leaders

Deepinder Goyal Pledges $25 Million to Longevity Research Venture

Indian entrepreneur Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Eternal Ltd., the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, has announced a personal investment of $25 million into his long-standing science initiative, Continue Research.

The venture, which he launched about two years ago, aims to extend healthy human function and life span through open-source biological research.

The move represents a significant escalation in Goyal’s commitment to scientific exploration beyond his technology and consumer businesses.

In a public post on X (formerly Twitter), Goyal revealed that the investment is “entirely personally backed” and intended to fund researchers across the world who are willing to “ask simpler questions than anyone else” about the science of biology and aging.

He said the broader vision is to lengthen the healthy portion of human life so that people “stop making short-term decisions,” arguing that much of humanity’s short-sightedness stems from the brevity of life itself.

Continue Research operates independently of Eternal and is neither a conventional company nor a commercial startup.

Instead, it functions as a hybrid of a research organization and a seed-funding entity. Its core mission is to support fundamental, open-source biological research rather than proprietary product development.

The group’s approach, according to Goyal, relies on a “systems-level understanding” of biology—studying interconnected mechanisms rather than isolated molecular events—to identify key leverage points in human aging that may have been overlooked by traditional research frameworks.

While best known for building Zomato and Blinkit into major consumer platforms, Goyal has increasingly shifted his focus toward the long-term future of human health and science.

His personal investment underscores both his financial capacity and philosophical interest in areas beyond food technology, including what he calls “humanity’s journey of conscious evolution.”

He described Continue Research as a “multi-decadal journey” meant to catalyze breakthroughs in longevity and health-span extension and to help usher humanity into a “post-Darwin era.”

The announcement comes amid a global surge of interest and capital flowing into longevity research, with scientists and investors alike focusing on understanding the molecular basis of aging, tissue repair, and lifespan extension.

Goyal’s initiative is one of the few large-scale, privately funded longevity efforts to emerge from India, positioning the country to play a larger role in this rapidly expanding field.

Goyal also hinted that the team at Continue Research has identified what he called a “penny-drop insight” about human aging—an early but potentially transformative concept that may redefine biological understanding.

He said details of the discovery would be shared in the coming weeks as the group formalizes its research collaborations and opens funding rounds for early-stage scientific teams.

By pledging $25 million of his personal wealth to Continue Research, Deepinder Goyal has placed himself among a growing cohort of global technology founders who are investing heavily in the science of longevity.

His approach—open, research-driven, and long-term—suggests that India’s entrepreneurial class may soon play a more active role in shaping the future of human health and lifespan innovation.

Also Read: Blackstone Backs Federal Bank With Nearly ₹6,200 Crore Investment

Categories
Leaders

Tarun Garg to Succeed Unsoo Kim as Hyundai India’s First Indian MD & CEO

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has announced that Tarun Garg will take over as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer effective 1 January 2026, following the decision by incumbent Unsoo Kim to step down and return to a strategic role in South Korea.

The board of HMIL approved Garg’s appointment at a meeting held on 14 October 2025, according to regulatory disclosures.

Until that date, Garg will serve as MD & CEO‐designate while shadowing Kim in the transition. The successor appointment remains subject to shareholder approval.

Unsoo Kim, who has helmed Hyundai India since 2022, will formally relinquish his position on 31 December 2025 and assume a strategic assignment at Hyundai Motor Company in South Korea.

During his tenure in India, Kim oversaw landmark developments including Hyundai India’s initial public offering in 2024 — India’s biggest IPO to date.

Tarun Garg becomes the first Indian national to lead Hyundai’s Indian operations.

A mechanical engineer by training and an MBA from IIM Lucknow, Garg joined Hyundai India in December 2019 as Director (Sales, Marketing & Service) and was elevated to Chief Operating Officer in January 2023.

Before Hyundai, Garg spent over two decades at Maruti Suzuki India, rising to the role of Executive Director (Marketing). Within Hyundai, his contributions include the rollout of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) across multiple models and efforts to improve sales quality, control incentives, and expand margins.

Alongside the leadership change, Hyundai India also disclosed a major investment plan of ₹450 billion (about US$5.07 billion) by fiscal 2030 to expand capacity and strengthen research and development efforts.

Around 60 percent of the allocation is planned for R&D, with the balance directed at product upgrades and capacity enhancement.

The company is targeting EBITDA (core earnings) margins of 11 to 14 percent and a compounded annual domestic sales growth rate of approximately 7 percent over the next five years.

Also Read: Citi India Appoints Srini Kannan to Lead Key Sectors at Commercial Bank

Categories
Leaders

Akasa Air Faces Leadership Turbulence as Co-founder Khatri Resigns

Neelu Khatri, one of Akasa Air’s founding pillars and the architect of its global ambitions, has stepped away from the cockpit of its leadership. The Senior Vice President for International Affairs resigned this week, marking the fledgling airline’s first major exit since its take-off in 2022.

The timing is notable as just a few weeks ago, Akasa secured ₹1,200 crore in fresh funding from investors led by Premji Invest, fuelling plans to stand toe-to-toe with aviation heavyweights like IndiGo and Air India. The company has already spread its wings internationally, while launching flights to Doha and preparing for more destinations.

Khatri joined Akasa Air even before its inaugural flight, helping chart the carrier’s course into overseas markets. Her departure comes just as the airline is at full throttle, aggressively expanding its network both domestically and internationally. Insiders suggest her move was a personal career decision, while the airline maintains that its growth trajectory remains unaffected. Her responsibilities have been passed on to senior executives as part of a broader leadership realignment.

While the skies remain friendly for now, foreign expansion in the competitive Indian airline landscape is no soft landing. As one of the few shareholders in the parent entity, SNV Aviation, Khatri’s quiet exit has industry watchers speculating about the reasons behind it.

Also Read: Rolls-Royce Eyes India as Strategic Global Hub, CEO Confirms

Categories
Leaders

Elon Musk Settles $128 Million Lawsuit with Former Twitter Executives

Elon Musk has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by four former Twitter executives—Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, and Sean Edgett—over unpaid severance packages totaling $128 million.

The executives alleged they were wrongfully terminated for cause immediately after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, which voided their severance entitlements.

They contended that the dismissals were retaliatory actions following their involvement in a lawsuit against Musk when he attempted to back out of the acquisition deal.

The lawsuit also referenced a claim in Musk’s biography suggesting he deliberately timed the acquisition to terminate the executives before their stock options vested.

The settlement, filed in a California federal court, is conditional upon certain terms being met in the near term.

A judge has postponed deadlines to allow the parties time to finalize the arrangements.

Musk and X Corp have denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that the executives were dismissed for performance-related reasons.

This legal dispute is part of a series of challenges Musk has faced since acquiring Twitter, now rebranded as X.

In August, X Corp agreed to settle a separate class-action lawsuit involving approximately 6,000 laid-off employees who claimed they were denied severance payments.

Additionally, Musk is currently involved in a lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged securities law violations related to his share purchases.

The settlement with the former executives marks a significant development in the ongoing legal and operational challenges Musk has encountered since taking control of Twitter.

As the terms of the settlement are finalized, it remains to be seen how this resolution will impact Musk’s broader business endeavors and the future direction of X Corp.

Also Read: Starlink Prepares for India Launch, Emphasizes Rural Connectivity

Categories
Leaders

Mukesh Ambani Retains Top Spot on Forbes India Rich List; Gautam Adani Second

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, has maintained his position as India’s richest individual, according to the Forbes India Rich List for 2025.

With a net worth of $105 billion, Ambani remains the country’s sole centibillionaire, even as his fortune has declined by nearly 12 percent over the past year amid challenging market conditions.

The overall wealth of India’s top 100 billionaires fell by approximately $100 billion in 2025, a 9 percent drop, bringing the combined net worth to around $1 trillion.

Analysts attribute the decline to a combination of a weaker rupee, global economic uncertainty, and a 3 percent decrease in the benchmark Sensex index since the previous assessment.

Despite these challenges, Ambani’s position at the top has remained unchallenged, reflecting the enduring strength of his business empire.

Ambani’s wealth continues to be driven by the performance of Reliance’s consumer-facing businesses, particularly Reliance Retail and Jio Infocomm.

Recent valuations place Reliance Retail at $143 billion and Jio at $135 billion, highlighting the critical role these businesses play in driving the group’s overall earnings.

The company’s strategic plans, including the proposed listing of Jio in 2026, are expected to further unlock shareholder value and solidify Ambani’s position in the global billionaire rankings.

Gautam Adani and his family rank second on the Forbes list with a net worth of $92 billion, followed by Savitri Jindal and family at $40.2 billion, Sunil Mittal and family at $34.2 billion, and Shiv Nadar at $33.2 billion.

The rankings underscore the continued influence of industrial, telecom, and technology leaders in India’s economy, even as market volatility affects valuations across sectors.

Industry observers note that Ambani’s ability to retain the top position despite a dip in net worth demonstrates the resilience of Reliance Industries and its diversified business model.

Over the past year, the conglomerate has maintained strong revenue streams from its oil-to-telecom businesses, while expanding its digital and retail operations to tap into India’s growing consumer market.

While global and domestic economic headwinds have affected billionaire wealth across India, Ambani’s strategic initiatives, including technology investments and retail expansion, have allowed him to maintain a commanding lead over peers.

The announcement of Jio’s future public listing is being closely watched by investors and market analysts, as it could significantly influence the valuations of Reliance’s telecom and digital services segment.

Forbes’ 2025 list highlights not only Ambani’s continued prominence but also the shifting dynamics of wealth creation in India.

Despite market fluctuations, the combination of strategic foresight, diversification, and a focus on high-growth sectors has ensured that Ambani remains the benchmark for entrepreneurial success in the country.

As India’s economy continues to evolve and new sectors emerge, the performance of Ambani and other top billionaires will remain a key indicator of the country’s commercial and industrial landscape.

The Forbes ranking serves as a reminder of the scale and influence of India’s business leaders, even in times of financial uncertainty.

Also Read: Rubicon Research launches ₹1,377.5 crore IPO