Adani group rejigs airport business leadership from Mumbai to Ahmedabad
By Lokmat English Desk | Published: July 19, 2021 03:00 PM2021-07-19T15:00:00+5:302021-07-19T15:00:00+5:30
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In an organisational rejig, Adani Group has appointed the Mumbai airport's Chief Executive Officer R K Jain as its CEO of airports, replacing incumbent Ben Zandi, who will now take over as the CEO of non-aero business at Adani Airport Holdings Ltd.
The reshuffle comes after Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), the group's flagship company for airports business and Adani Enterprises' wholly-owned subsidiary, last week took management of the Mumbai Airport International Airport Ltd (MIAL) from the GVK group.
Prakash Tulsiani, president (operations) at AAHL, will take over as the CEO of MIAL, according to a communication dated July 17.
Besides, the group has also decided to shift AAHL's head office to Ahmedabad from Mumbai, as per the communication.
MIAL also holds a 74 per cent stake in the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport. In August last year, Adani Group had announced that it would acquire GVK Group's stake in Mumbai airport.
After the stake purchase transaction, Adani Group will have a 74 per cent stake in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, with 50.5 per cent being bought from GVK Group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners, including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and Bidvest Group.
"As we look to consolidate and pursue aggressive growth of the Adani Group in the airports sector, it has been decided to relocate the head office of AAHL from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
"We believe this decision will foster collaborative working and agile decision making, which is of paramount importance at this stage of our journey," Malay Mahadeviya, chief executive officer of AAHL, said in the communication.
He said that with the successful transition of MIAL and Navi Mumbai Inetrnational Airport Ltd (NMIAL) into AAHL, "we are also pleased to announce the...changes in the leadership across AAHL".
According to the communication, MIAL Chief Executive R K Jain, who has been associated with MIAL since its inception and has been instrumental in developing it as one of the leading airports in India, will take over as CEO (airports) from Ben Zandi. Jain has been credited with winning Navi Mumbai Airport Project and was actively involved as CEO of NMIAL, it said adding, "He will be fully involved to shape scheme for airport slum rehabilitation to take it to implementation stage." He will also be involved in airport regulatory issues. The CEO of MIAL and chief airport officers of Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, Trivandrum and Jaipur will report to him.
