Ashok Ganapathy appointed director of Airtel Business

Will drive growth of Bharti's B2B portfolio, takes over from Manish Prakash, who moves into a new role

Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's largest telecommunications services provider on Monday said Ashok Ganapathy will take charge as the Director, Airtel Business with effect from July 1, 2016. He will report to Gopal Vittal, CEO and Managing Director (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

As Director of Airtel Business, Ganapathy will be responsible for driving the growth of Bharti Airtel's business-to-business (B2B) portfolio that entails top corporations, government entities and other corporates and provides them with end-to-end solutions. He will take over from Manish Prakash, who is moving into a new role as Director-Strategic Alliances.

"I am delighted at the appointment of Ashok to lead Airtel Business, which is a key contributor to our growth. I am confident that his diverse experience will bring immense value to the portfolio that Manish has successfully built," said Vittal.

Ganapathy, who has 26 years of experience across FMCG (Fast-moving consumer Goods), Retail, Entertainment and Telecom sectors, joined Bharti Airtel in 2013 as the Hub Chief Executive for Mumbai, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat circles. Prior to joining Airtel, Ganapathy served as the CEO of Big Cinema, Reliance Mediaworks.

A graduate from IIT Madras and a post-graduate from IIM Ahmedabad, he started his career with Hindustan Unilever in 1990 as a management trainee.