Hires & Promotions: Mahindra Group, FCB India

Mahindra Group makes leadership changes

Mahindra Group has reported key leadership appointments across businesses. Manoj Bhat, group chief financial officer has been appointed as the MD & CEO of MHRIL effective 17th May 2024, consequent to Kavinder Singh’s decision to take on the next challenge in his professional journey effective 16th May 2024.

Amarjyoti Barua, executive vice president - group strategy will lead the Mahindra Group’s finance organisation as the group CFO effective 17th May 2024.

Anish Shah, group CEO & managing director, M&M says, “Talent Development is a key priority at the Mahindra Group, which has enabled us to attract and retain top talent. In addition to world-class development programs, we have mapped career paths for each leader, which include experience across multiple roles. As a result, we have increased internal job rotations across businesses. We truly appreciate Kavinder’s contribution to MHRIL and the Mahindra Group and wish him the very best for the journey ahead. We look forward to MHRIL’s next phase of growth under his leadership”.

In sync with the Group’s talent development philosophy, there is a further planned rotation of key finance talent. Effective 1st May 2024, Vimal Agarwal, current CFO of Mahindra Lifespaces Developers (MLDL) will move as CFO for MHRIL and will be succeeded by Avinash Bapat as CFO of Mahindra Lifespace Developers (MLDL).

Kavinder Singh joined the Mahindra Group in 2014 as managing director and CEO of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India (MHRIL) and a member of the group's executive board. During his tenure, his focus was towards making MHRIL a world-class vacation ownership company, to create differentiated experiences for Club Mahindra members.

Manoj Bhat, president & group chief financial officer, moved to M&M in April 2021 from Tech Mahindra, where he was the CFO since 2018. As the Group CFO, Manoj capably led the group’s finance leadership team, working closely with the CFOs of group companies focusing on the governance, controllership, and capital allocation discipline across the group. He has played a key role in Tech Mahindra’s organic and inorganic growth initiatives including being a part of the acquisition and integration of Satyam and the initial public offering of Tech Mahindra in 2006.

Amarjyoti Barua joined the Mahindra Group on 15th May 2023 as executive vice president - group strategy. In this role, he led the group strategy office, working closely with the group's overall portfolio of businesses. Before joining us, Amar was with Baker Hughes for over 6 years. In his last role as senior vice president - Oil Field Services & Equipment (OFSE), he led the financial and operational transformation of OFSE which has presence in 120+ countries and has $14B in revenues. Before this, he worked with GE for 18 years across various businesses globally.

Keigan Pinto to move out of FCB India

Keigan Pinto, the Chief Creative Officer at FCB India, is believed to have stepped down from his position, our sources reveal. It is believed that he will be serving his notice period until the end of May 2024. 

Pinto joined FCB Ulka (now FCB India) as Creative Head (West) and went on to become the CCO for the agency, creating many popular ads for brands.

Having more than 20 years of industry expertise, Pinto has worked with several agencies, including Colenso BBDO New Zealand, Publicis Ambience, Ogilvy & Mather India, and Lowe Lintas. In his last role before joining FCB, he served as the creative head at MTV India. He has won several reputed awards, such as D&AD, The One Show, Adfest, Cannes Lions, Abbys, Effies, DMA Asia Echo Awards, Promax India, Asia, and World.