New Delhi, Jan 16: Gopal Vittal, who rejoined Airtel in April 2012 as Group Director – Special Projects, has been named as CEO – India at Bharti Airtel. His appointment follows the resignation of at Bharti Group, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel.
Vittal will report to Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel. “Sanjay will continue in his current role until February 28, 2013, and will be available to assist on key matters until March 31, 2013, ensuring a smooth transition process,” the company said in a statement.
Announcing his appointment, Sunil Mittal said, “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Gopal Vittal as CEO – India, Bharti Airtel. Gopal worked closely with me during his earlier stint as Director Marketing in Airtel. He has an outstanding track record at Unilever and brings with him a wealth of experience in assimilating the consumer mindset, managing operations efficiently, winning with the customer, building brand and innovating to secure market leadership. Gopal spent his last year understanding the new wave of mobile telephony, in particular the data space and data experience. This will be extremely relevant and valuable for the next phase of Airtel's growth. I wish him a successful and exciting journey ahead.”
Vittal, who studied at IIM Kolkata, will use his 20 years of experience in companies like Hindustan Unilever to put the company into the next growth phase. Earlier in HUL, Vittal, played a key role in leading the $3.5 billion Home and Personal Care Division from years of uncompetitive growth to delivering exceptional market performance, said an official release.
Vittal's appointment holds importance since the company has been reporting loss in net profits for 11 consecutive quarters. It lost 1.3 million subscribers in India in the September quarter, with average revenue per user falling to Rs 177 from Rs 183 a year ago.
“Vittal would be enhancing market share and margins along with growth of alternate revenue streams including 3G, Data, Airtel Money and value added services. Sources suggest that the company's focus will now be on creating a low cost, data driven business model,” Airtel said.
