Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor has quit the company. He will be replaced by Gopal Vittal who will lead the India operations effective March 1st.
Kapoor had joined Airtel as its COO back in 1998. He swiftly clinched the CEO role He spearheaded the growth of Airtel and was also instrumental in transforming Airtel’s business image and carried out the transition from being a voice-centric service provider to a data centric one. Furthermore he played a pivotal role in the launch of Airtel Business.
Here are some interesting excerpts from the company’s statement:
After almost 15 years of illustrious innings at Bharti Group, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel, has decided to pursue his future aspirations outside of Bharti.
Sanjay Kapoor will continue in his current role until Feb 28, 2013, and will be available to assist on key matters until March 31, 2013 ensuring a smooth transition process.
Kapoor’s replacement Gopal Vittal has been working a high-profile job under Hindustan Unilever spanning 20 years. Vittal’s focus will be to explore further avenues and focus on higher margin revenue streams such as 3G and mobile money.
Investors responded positively to this change as their stock price closed 4.8% higher at Rs.345.25 on Bombay Stock Exchange.