HCL Infosystems appoints Nikhil Sinha as non-exec chairman

New appointments on the company board have been effected to fulfil the upcoming requirements of the new Companies' Act

IT firm HCL Infosystems today said it has appointed Nikhil Sinha as the non-executive chairman and added three new members to its board.

Sinha, who has been a non-executive director on HCL Infosystems board since July 2009, is the founding vice chancellor of Shiv Nadar University and a senior advisor to the Shiv Nadar Foundation and HCL Corporation.

The three non-executive directors are Group CEO of Apollo Hospitals S Premkumar, D K Srivastava (responsible for HR functions at HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation) and Pawan Kumar Danwar (executive vice-president and CFO of HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation), the company said in a statement.

The move follows the exit of existing directors, J V Ramamurthy, DS Puri and E A Kshirsagar, who have stepped down from the board.

"The new appointments on the HCL Infosystems board have been effected to fulfil the upcoming requirements of the new Companies' Act, as well as to get the board augmented with capabilities as relevant for the future growth direction," HCL Infosystems said in a statement.

Ramamurthy would continue to be associated with the firm as a director on the board of HCL Infotech (HCLI), a wholly owned subsidiary of HCL Infosystems, it added.

Puri and Kshirsagar had joined the HCLI board in 1998.

"We are very excited to have Nikhil Sinha as our new chairman of the board and also have three exceptional leaders. They bring with them tremendous industry experience and we look forward to their valuable perspectives from which the company will gain and benefit from," HCL Infosystems MD and CEO Harsh Chitale said.

Last month, HCL Infosystems had appointed Sangeeta Talwar and Kaushik Dutta as independent non-executive directors.

With close to 30 years of experience, Sinha has been associated with iDLX Technology Partners, EMR Technology Ventures, eFunds Corporation and Adams Capital Management.