 "FTIL's Jignesh Shah steps down from MD, CEO positions")
Prashant Desai, who’d joined in 2013 as president (investor relations and M&A) becomes managing director (MD) and CEO. The company also announced a restructuring of its board, appointing three new faces.
The move follows an earlier announcement of moving to Shah’s ‘FT 3.0’ vision, aimed to create India’s equivalent of Amazon, Facebook, Google and Twitter, somewhat like Baidu and Alibaba in China – all powered by its ‘Made in India’ technology.
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“Jignesh Shah will no longer hold any executive or managerial position,” the company stated. He is to be styled ‘chairman - emeritus and mentor’, to nurture and inspire entrepreneurship. He continues to hold 45 per cent stake in FTIL.
A promoter stepping down is not frequent in India’s corporate world. A recent exception was at Infosys Technologies, where all the promoters have stepped down from any managerial role or board position, while continuing to be shareholders.
Manjay Shah and Dewang Neralla will also exit from the FTIL board. The latter is to become MD & CEO at Atom Technologies and Manjay Shah the MD & CEO of Tickerplant, both FTIL subsidiaries. Neralla has been with Jignesh Shah since the inception.
Shah congratulated the new MD & CEO and the board of directors. And said: “When we started FTIL, we had only one vision - to make Indian technology, intellectual property and brand, among the most respected in the world, that not just delivers shareholder value but creates social impact in terms of job creation and benefits. Today, as we pass the baton to the new generation of leaders of FTIL, that vision remains unchanged as we move in to the next trajectory.”
Under FT 3.0, as the company announced a fortnight earlier, the plan is to transform FTIL into becoming the de facto ‘powered by’ technology partner of choice to create and develop a system of at least 100 new digital giants from India in 10 key sectors — retail, education, health care, agriculture, environment, infrastructure and space, among others — by 2025.
Shah had made the FT group a global leader in building and operating technology-centric financial exchanges for multi-asset classes. However, he has had to exit all of these after last year’s Rs 5,600-crore default at National Spot Exchange , an FTIL subsidiary.
The company has also announced expansion of its board with three non-executive directors. These are Nisha Dutt, a Silicon Valley veteran; Sunil Shah, an IIM, Ahmedabad, alumnus and founder of Gujarat Innovation Society; and Miten Mehta, a Kellogg’s product. Only a fortnight earlier, it had announced the appointment of three professional directors to the board.
The company also announced appointment of two executive directors (EDs). Jigish Sonagra will be director, new ventures. And, Rajendra Mehta an ex-head of operations at CLSA, will be director - member technologies.
The re-constituted board of 12 members will have five non-executive and independent directors, four EDs and three non-EDs. The board unanimously approved a ‘JS Digital Innovator Award’ to be established to honour the contribution of Jignesh Shah.