Subhrakant Panda takes over as FICCI President; Dr Anish Shah elevated as SVP and Harsha Vardhan Agarwal joins as VP
NEW DELHI, 17 December 2022: Mr Subhrakant Panda, Managing Director, Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd has today taken over as FICCI President for 2022-2023, from Mr Sanjiv Mehta at the apex chamber’s 95th Annual Convention held in New Delhi.
Dr Anish Shah, Managing Director and CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has been elevated as Senior Vice President, FICCI.
Mr Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Emami Limited has joined FICCI leadership as Vice President.
President, FICCI:
Mr Subhrakant Panda is Managing Director of Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) which is the country’s leading, fully integrated producer of ferro alloys with captive mining and power generation employing 6500 people. He has handled various responsibilities in IMFA and implemented expansion plans after he was appointed Managing Director which led to significant growth in revenue & profitability.
He is the first industrialist from Odisha to lead a national industry chamber. India has emerged as a bright spot at a time when the global economy is facing turbulence and with his deep understanding of the economic and industry issues, Mr Panda is determined to further strengthen FICCI’s position as the leading industry chamber which will contribute to the India growth story through its engagement with various stakeholders.
He has been active in FICCI for two decades and was the first Chairman of the FICCI Odisha State Council besides heading the FICCI National Manufacturing Committee. Mr Panda is also Past President of the International Chamber of Commerce (India Chapter) and the Paris-based International Chromium Development Association (ICDA).
Mr Panda graduated with honours summa cum laude from the Questrom School of Business, Boston University in 1993 with a dual concentration in Finance and Operations Management. He has been recognized for his outstanding scholastic achievement by being named to the Beta Gamma Sigma Honour Society for Collegiate Schools of Business and Golden Key National Honour Society.
He is a keen reader, and his interests include technology.
Senior Vice President, FICCI:
Dr Anish Shah
Managing Director and CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Dr Anish Shah is the Managing Director and CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. He joined Mahindra Group in 2014, as Group President (Strategy), and worked closely with all businesses on key strategic initiatives, built capabilities such as digitization & data sciences and enabled synergies across group companies. In 2019, he was appointed Deputy Managing Director and Group CFO, with responsibility for the Group Corporate Office and full oversight of all businesses other than the Auto and Farm sectors, as a part of the transition plan to the CEO role.
Dr Anish 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. As Director, Global Mortgage, he worked across 33 countries to drive growth and manage risk. As Senior Vice President (Marketing and Product Development) at GE Mortgage Insurance, he led various growth initiatives and played a key role in preparing the business for an IPO, as a spinoff from GE. In his initial years with GE, Anish also led Strategy, eCommerce and Sales Force Effectiveness and had the unique experience of running a dot-com business within GE. Anish also received GE’s prestigious Lewis Latimer Award for outstanding utilisation of Six Sigma in developing a ‘Digital Cockpit’.
He has diverse experience with global businesses beyond GE. He led Bank of America’s US Debit Products business, where he launched an innovative rewards program, led numerous initiatives in payment technology and worked closely with various teams across the Bank to enhance value for the customer.
As a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in Boston, he worked across multiple industries, including banking, oil rigs, paper, paint, steam boilers and medical equipment. His first role was with Citibank in Mumbai, where he issued bank guarantees and letters of credit as Assistant Manager, Trade Services.
Dr Anish holds a Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business where his doctoral thesis was in the field of Corporate Governance. He also received a Masters degree from Carnegie Mellon and has a post-graduate diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has received various scholarships, including the William Latimer Mellon Scholarship, Industry Scholarship at IIMA, National Talent Search and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
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.
