Vishal Wanchoo appointed as GE South Asia head, replaces Banmali Agrawala

American technology and power giant GE on Wednesday announced the appointment of Vishal Wanchoo as president & chief executive officer of GE South Asia from October 1, 2017. Vishal succeeds Banmali Agrawala, who is moving on from GE to join Tata Sons as president of its infrastructure, defence and aerospace verticals.

Until now, Vishal Wanchoo was the commercial growth leader for GE’s Global Growth Organisation.

John Rice, vice-chairman, GE said: “GE has been in this region for over 100 years, impacting lives of people through its various businesses. We have succeeded in building a robust team under Banmali’s leadership and have achieved key business milestones in the region. We would like to congratulate Vishal on his new role and are confident that Vishal will bring his experience as a senior leader in strengthening GE’s growth in the region. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Banmali and wish him luck for his new role.”

"I am delighted and humbled to take on this new role. These are exciting times for GE and we are at the cusp of a significant transformation into a digital industrial company. I look forward to lead GE South Asia in its next chapter of growth," said President & CEO Designate, Vishal Wanchoo.

Vishal has been with GE for almost 20 years. He started his career with GE in November 1997. Vishal has been a GE officer since 2005 and has held several senior leadership positions in the company. Prior to his role as the commercial growth leader, Vishal was heading Business Development, Growth & Strategy for GE South Asia and earlier to that was running GE’s global Healthcare IT business (HCIT) in the United States.

During the six years of Agrawala, GE itself has undergone change from being a traditional American conglomerate to being a pure play industrial group that works like a technology giant. Agrawala oversaw the company’s integration with Alstom’s power business in India and the wrapping up of its financial services vertical. In the last three years, GE’s South Asia business doubled.

An energy professional, 54-year-old Agrawala has over 29 years of experience. He has also worked in the Wartsila group for over 21 years. At the time of leaving Wartsila, he was the managing director of Wartsila India and a member of Wartsila Global Power Plant Management Board.

Agrawala is a mechanical Engineering graduate from the Mangalore University and is also an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School.