Vakrangee revamps senior management, enhances independence of board

Vakrangee, a unique technology-driven company with a pan-India network of digital convenience stores called Vakrangee Kendras, has revamped its senior management structure. It has appointed Ramesh Joshi as the non-executive chairman and Dinesh Nandwana as the MD and Group CEO, replacing Anil Khanna.

With these changes, the company is in compliance with the Kotak committee recommendations and SEBI’s revised Listing Obligations and Disclosure Regulations (Regulation 17(1B) of SEBI LODR, 2015) well before the targeted timelines. This has further enhanced the corporate governance standards of the company as well as improved the independence of its board.

SEBI regulation

In June 2017, SEBI formed a committee on corporate governance under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak to enhance the standards of corporate governance of listed entities in India. Based on its recommendations, in May 2018, SEBI amended Regulation 17 of the Listing Regulations of 2015, by inserting a new clause, 1B.

Regulation 17 (1B) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, required the top-500 listed companies to divide the positions of chairman and MD or CEO of the company.

These top-500 listed entities shall ensure that the chairperson of the board of such a listed entity shall be a non-executive director and further not be related to the managing director or the chief executive officer as per the definition of the term relative defined under the Companies Act, 2013.

The leaders
A veteran in his field, Joshi has had a long and illustrious career spread over four decades. He has held several leadership positions in the Reserve Bank of India and has been nominee director on behalf of RBI on the boards of various banks. He retired as an executive director of SEBI.

Joshi has also been on the panel of arbitrators for NSE, BSE and MCX. He will serve as a mentor and continue as a guiding force for the MD on issues presented to the board, especially in the areas of corporate governance and all types of business risk assessment and mitigation initiatives.

Nandwana as MD and Group CEO will continue to play an active role in the business strategy and operations.

He has been at the helm of the business operations of the company since its inception.

He has been guiding the company for more than two decades and his vast experience is backed by astute and distinguished leadership qualities. His contribution has been immense in evolving and diversifying the company from being an e-governance player to a unique retail distribution platform with pan-India network of franchiseeled retail outlets.

Vakrangee’s presence
Vakrangee currently has 21,000+ (8,500 operational and 12,500+ under on-boarding process) outlets that are spread across 29 states and UTs, 500+ districts and 5,800+ postal codes. More than 70 per cent of these outlets are in tier-5 and tier-6 towns.

Under Nandwana’s leadership, the company has performed consistently and achieved sustainable growth. He is all set to achieve the company’s vision and planned target to reach 3,00,000 Nextgen outlets by FY 2024-25.