RCom elevates old hands, brings Garg, Manikantan on its board

Reliance Communications (RCom) today announced expansion of its board and elevated President of Telecom Business Punit Garg as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Manikantan V as Director.

The decision to elevate Garg and Manikantan was taken at a meeting of the board of directors held on Monday, RCom said in a BSE filing. The company expanded its board by inducting senior executives as additional directors, according to the filing.

Garg, 53, has been elevated to the board as Executive Director. His appointment as an additional director is for three years. Garg has been part of the leadership team for the last 17 years and has held several positions in the company, including that of CEO of Indian and Global Enterprise business, Corporate Strategy and Regulatory Affairs. He has rich experience of over 32 years in telecom and IT sectors.

The company said Manikantan, 52, has also been elevated to the board as Director and CFO. His appointment is also for three years. Manikantan, a chartered accountant, has been with the company for the last 22 years and has held several senior posts, with an experience of over 29 years.

In addition, Suresh Rangachar, who heads the fibre and tower business as Director of Reliance Infratel (RITL), a subsidiary, has been elevated as Executive Director of RITL. He has been with the company for the last 17 years.

Gurdeep Singh, co-CEO and CEO of the Mobility Business, has also been promoted as Executive Director of Reliance Telecom, a subsidiary of the firm. He has been working with the company for the last six years.

William (Bill) Barney, co-CEO, also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Global Cloud Xchange, another subsidiary.

Reliance Communications, founded by late Dhirubhai Ambani, is the flagship company of the Reliance Group. RCom, an integrated telecom service provider, has a customer base of over 80 million, including over 2.6 million individual overseas retail users.