MAM
P&G India announces its new CEO, Kumar Venkatasubramanian
Mumbai: Procter & Gamble India announced today that Kumar Venkatasubramanian will take over as the chief executive officer for its operations in India from 1 May 2024. Kumar is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and started his journey with P&G in the sales team in India, straight from campus in 2000. He has almost 24 years of experience, the majority of it in India across different roles in the Sales function. He is currently leading the P&G business in Australia and New Zealand as CEO where he has been responsible for steering the team to deliver record metrics, driven by category growth and strong retailer partnerships. Prior to the Australia role, Kumar was leading the Sales Team in P&G India until 2020.
Venkatasubramanian is a passionate advocate for Equality and Inclusion, and under his leadership, many programs were expanded to have a significant impact on employees and the community. This included P&G ANZ’s largest-ever corporate partnership with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Kumar will take over from LV Vaidyanathan, who will leave the company to pursue other interests after 28 years of service to P&G. Under his leadership, P&G India has made strides of progress on the journey of bringing in superior propositions for the Indian consumers and delivered consistent balanced growth of top and bottom line. In his time, the company has also stepped-up on efforts across the key areas of Citizenship – Community Impact, Equality and Inclusion and Environmental Sustainability.
Quote from Stanislav Vecera, P&G president, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa:
“I want to thank LV for his outstanding leadership of the India organization, and his service to P&G for nearly 3 decades. I wish him all the best for his future endeavours.
I am thrilled with Kumar Venkatasubramanian’s appointment as the India CEO, who has been an integral part of the P&G India growth story for well over two decades. Kumar is no stranger to the Indian organization, having spent many years building and executing our business strategies here. The Indian business and people will immensely benefit from his leadership and vision, and collectively I am certain they will take the Indian business to new heights while maintaining a balanced growth outlook.”
Quote from LV Vaidyanathan:
“It has been a great honour and privilege to lead our business in India. The journey has been incredibly fulfilling. I am so proud of every P&G employee for demonstrating commitment and passion to serve our consumers, customers, and stakeholders, and for the results we collectively achieved. I am confident in the continued success of the company and the people.”
Quote from Kumar Venkatasubramanian:
“It is a moment of great pride for me to come back to India and spearhead the P&G business in the country. I look forward to being back in the market, learning more about the Indian consumers and serving their needs. The India organization is on momentum, delivering consistent results and balanced top and bottom-line growth. It will be important for us to remain focused on our integrated growth strategy, as I believe it is the right strategy for us to deliver sustained outcomes. We will focus on a portfolio of daily-use products where performance drives brand choice and raise the bar on all aspects of our superiority strategy– product, package, brand communication, retail execution, and value. We aim to lead constructive disruption in the industry across the value chain. I believe that our agile, empowered, and accountable organization will be at the heart of our growth. I look forward to working with our incredibly talented team in India once again and playing a part in the India growth story.”
MAM
Three senior OpenAI infrastructure executives join Meta
Key members of Stargate project move to rival amid aggressive AI spending race.
MUMBAI: Three key architects of OpenAI’s ambitious data centre plans have switched sides and joined Meta Platforms, according to people familiar with the matter. Peter Hoeschele, who played a central role in OpenAI’s high-profile Stargate initiative, is among the new hires. He is joined by Shamez Hemani, who focused on computing strategy and business development, and Anuj Saharan, another leader in the computing organisation. The Information first reported their departure from OpenAI on Thursday.
The moves come as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend aggressively on AI infrastructure. The company is projecting capital expenditure of up to $135 billion this year alone, with hundreds of billions more expected before the end of the decade to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs and new models such as Muse Spark.
OpenAI, which is pushing ahead with massive data centre expansion, had described its early lead in securing computing power as a competitive advantage. Stargate, originally announced last year as a $500 billion venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, has since become an umbrella term for the company’s broader data centre ambitions. However, the project has seen recent adjustments, including a pause on its UK plans and the decision not to expand the Abilene, Texas site.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment, while Hoeschele, Hemani, and Saharan also declined to comment. OpenAI said it was grateful for the contributions of the three employees and remains focused on hiring talent for its infrastructure plans. The company recently brought in former Intel executive Sachin Katti to lead its industrial compute efforts.
In the high-stakes race to build the future of artificial intelligence, talent is proving to be as valuable as computing power itself. Meta’s latest hires suggest the competition for top infrastructure minds is intensifying, even as OpenAI continues to scale its own ambitious projects. The move highlights how quickly the AI talent war is heating up across Silicon Valley.
