Mr Harsha Vardhan Agarwal elevated as Senior Vice President
Mr Anant Goenka joins FICCI leadership as Vice President
NEW DELHI, 09 December 2023: Dr Anish Shah, Group CEO of Mahindra Group and Managing Director, M&M today took over as FICCI President for 2023-2024, from Mr Subhrakant Panda, at the apex chamber’s 96th Annual Convention held in New Delhi.
Mr Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Emami Limited has been elevated as Senior Vice President, FICCI.
Mr Anant Goenka, Vice Chairman, RPG Group has joined FICCI leadership as Vice President.
President, FICCI:
Dr Anish Shah is the Group CEO of Mahindra Group and the Managing Director of M&M, the parent company of the Group. His primary focus is on nurturing a purpose-driven organization, establishing tech leadership in each industry, and enabling value creation across businesses.
The Mahindra Group employs over 260,000 associates in 100+ countries. It is a global leader in Farm Equipment & Technology Services and India’s largest SUV, Light Commercial Vehicle & electric 3-wheeler manufacturer. It has a meaningful presence in 20 industries, that include Financial Services, Renewable Energy, Hospitality, Logistics and Real Estate. Its purpose is to drive positive change to enable communities to Rise, and play a leadership role in climate change, women empowerment and education.
In addition to being a FICCI National Executive Committee office-bearer, Dr Shah is also a member of the UK Investment Council, Chair of the Automotive Governors Council (World Economic Forum), co-Chair of the India Alliance of CEOs for Climate Change (World Economic Forum) and co-Chair of the India-Australia CEO Council.
Prior to Mahindra Group, Dr Anish Shah was President and CEO of GE Capital India from 2009-14, where he led the transformation of the business, including a turnaround of its SBI Card joint venture. His career at GE spanned 14 years, during which he held several leadership positions at GE Capital’s US and global units. He has also led the Bank of America’s US Debit Products business and worked with Bain & Company in Boston and Citibank in Mumbai.
Dr Anish Shah holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
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Senior Vice President, FICCI:
Mr Harsha V Agarwal,
Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Emami Ltd.
Mr Agarwal is one of the youngest and most promising second-generation leaders of the ~ Rs. 35,000 cr. Emami Group and a key member of the strategic think-tank committee. He is the younger son of Mr Radhe Shyam Agarwal, Founder of Emami Group. Awarded as one of the India’s Hottest Young Business Leaders in the prestigious ‘FORTY UNDER 40’ list put together by The Economic times & Spencer Stuart in 2016, Harsha, with his extensive knowledge and experience in strategy, marketing and brand development, spearheads the FMCG business. He also takes personal interest in functions such as Merger & Acquisition, Strategy, Human Resources, Information Technology, Health Care business and Marketing functions of Emami Ltd and spearheads the digital initiatives of the organization.
An enterprising person and a quintessential businessman with a penchant for details and depth, Harsha has tremendous application of mind and a feisty dedication to work. He is steady and calm with focused leadership, coupled with a steely resolve. He passionately steers the organization with a futuristic outlook, while continuing to strengthen its core values.
His in-depth knowledge of different businesses is a great asset to the organization, and it helps in identifying opportunities for growth and charting out the future roadmap for the company. Being very farsighted and strategic, Harsha orchestrated the acquisition of Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd in 2008, one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of Indian FMCG industry which also became a case study in many business schools. He went on to add Kesh King to Emami’s portfolio in 2015, being another major acquisition in the FMCG space. In recent times, as part of his long-term vision, Harsha led the Company to make a strategic investment in new-age start-ups like Helios Lifestyle Pvt Ltd for their premium men’s grooming brand ‘The Man Company’ and Brillare Science for its premium salon products, thereby giving the company an immediate foothold in the online male grooming space and salon business.
Mr Harsha was amongst the very few select entrepreneurs of the country to have been invited for a two-day seminar – ‘Champions of Change’ – a Young Entrepreneurs Meet with Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi in August 2017 organized by NITI Aayog. The seminar was held to discuss and take suggestions on critical policy issues and the challenges the country is facing today.
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Vice President, FICCI:
Mr Anant Goenka is Vice Chairman of the RPG Group, a USD 4.4 bn conglomerate with interests in the areas of automotive tyres, infrastructure, pharma, IT, energy products, plantations, and venture capital.
Mr Goenka was the Managing Director of CEAT from 2012 to 2023, during which time, the company saw a 25x increase in market capitalization. CEAT became the first tyre brand in the world to win the Grand Deming Prize in 2023. CEAT was also awarded the Lighthouse recognition by the World Economic Forum in 2023.
Prior to joining CEAT, Anant worked with KEC International and Hindustan Unilever. He has also served as the Chairman of the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA). At present, Anant also serves as Vice-Chairman of CEAT and Zensar Technologies.
Mr Goenka has been recognised by Forbes as the ‘Next Generation Business Leader of the Year’ in 2017 and as ‘India’s 40 under 40 Business Leaders’ by Economic Times- Spencer Stuart.
Mr Goenka is an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS, Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
