B S Nagesh steps down as chairman of retailers association; Bijou Kurien to take over

The Board of Directors of Retailers Association of India (RAI), at its meeting on 30 September 2020, appointed Bijou Kurien, Independent Consultant and Member - Strategic Advisory Board, L Catterton Asia (a part of the LVMH Group) as the Chairman, the RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan confirmed the development.

Kulin Lalbhai, Executive Director, Arvind Ltd has been appointed as the Vice-Chairman of RAI.

Kurien takes over from B S Nagesh who was the Chairman of RAI for the last 15 years.

According to retail experts, Nagesh has been instrumental in bringing all modern retailers in India together to mutually benefit and grow the industry.

“This combination of Bijou as the Chairman, Kulin as the Vice Chairman and Kumar Rajagopalan as the CEO will add tremendously to the work already been done in the industry during COVID-19 times. With Kulin joining, we get a young leader with omni experience who represents the second generation of businesses,” Rajagopalan said.

Kurien, an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur has been associated with the growth of Indian retail for over 35 years. After earning his spurs at Hindustan Unilever Ltd., he joined the founding team at Titan Industries, where he helped build powerful brands in the Watch and Jewellery Industry like Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Tanishq etc.

Currently, he is an independent consultant and member of the Strategic Advisory Board of L Catterton Asia (a part of the LVMH Group). He is also an Independent Director on several listed and unlisted companies, and advises select consumer product companies and mentors a few start-ups.

Kulin Lalbhai is the Director at Arvind Fashions and Executive Director at Arvind Limited, where he drives new initiatives at the consumer businesses of the group.

He has been instrumental in setting up several new retail concepts and also spearheads the group’s digital initiatives.

He also plays an active role in the overall Corporate Strategy.

Kulin holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Stanford University.

Prior to his current role, he has also worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.