Srinivasan joins Aditya Birla group

MUMBAI: The Aditya Birla group on Monday announced the appointment of former Prudential Corp head Ajay Srinivasan as chief executive for the conglomerate’s financial services. The appointment is the most recent in the process of changing the group board’s composition and bringing in of younger directors.

Mr Srinivasan’s appointment comes less than a week after group director financial services SK Mitra, 59, stepped down before his scheduled retirement in December, citing personal reasons. The retirement age for directors of Aditya Birla Management Corporation is 60 years. Mr Srinivasan, 42, who will join the group from July 16, is also expected to be appointed director corporate strategy and business development.

“We see tremendous opportunity in the financial services sector and are looking to aggressively build on the current platform to become a leading player,” group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said in a statement.

“In his role as director Aditya Birla Management Corporation, Mr Srinivasan will direct and strategise on business portfolio issues for the group focusing on long term sustainability, profitability and value creation. He will also advise and support emerging businesses up to the project stage and support existing businesses, in terms of their investment plans, strategic alliances, business process re-engineering, planning and M&A,” Mr Birla added. The move clearly indicates the group’s intention to induct younger faces.

Mr Srinivasan at 42, is the second youngest director after group’s HR director Santrupt Mishra, who is 41-years old. Mr Shailendra Jain, head of the group’s pulp and staple fibre business, is the seniormost in age at 62 years.

Other members of Aditya Birla Management Corp include Sanjeev Aga (Idea Cellular MD), Debu Bhattacharya (Hindalco MD), Saurabh Mishra (UltraTech MD).