Btal-Bpl Hires Firm To Spot New Chief Executive Officer

The Birla-AT&T-Tata-BPL combine has hired a headhunting firm to seek a new chief executive officer (CEO) to run the merged cellular entity, which would be the country's largest.

The decision to rope in an independent professional was taken as Sanjiv Aga, the chief executive officer and president of Birla-Tata-AT&T (BTAL) who was to take over as the head of the merged entity, stepped down.

The company is expected to appoint the new CEO by the end of the current fiscal since Aga has promised the management to offer his services in the next few months for a smooth transition.

The main partners in the cellular behemoth -- AT&T, BPL, the Tatas and the Birlas -- do not want to depute their own nominees as CEO, even though Rajeev Chandrashekhar was believed to be a strong candidate for the top job.

However, both Tata Cellular and Birla-AT&T feel the candidate should be decided after a global hunt, sources said.

Though it is looking for a new head to look after the entire operations, the combine is yet to figure out the organisational structure of its operating firms after the merger.

It will have to either rationalise the top management post-merger or could redeploy some of their top team in its new cellular circle in New Delhi. The BTAL-BPL union is not planning any retrenchment.

At present, BTAL is headed by a president and CEO located in Pune, while BPL Cellular and BPL Mobile have independent CEOs, who report to B K Syngal, the common head for both the operating companies.

Apart from the new circle New Delhi, the combined entity has presence in Maharashtra, Mumbai, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, the undivided Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat circles.