The UK India Business Council has announced that Jayant Krishna has accepted the invitation of the Board to become its new Group Chief Executive Officer. He will take charge from August 3.
"Jayant brings a wealth of senior-level corporate and governmental experience from India and the UK to UKIBC, having previously led key initiatives of the Prime Minister's Skill India mission as CEO, and Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)," the council said in a statement.
Krishna, who will be the first UKIBC Group CEO to be based in India, will be replacing the current Group CEO, Richard Heald, OBE after a term of 10 years. Richard will step up to the role of Chair from September 1, 2020, succeeding the current Chair, Lord Davies of Abersoch, CBE who will retain a close association with the UKIBC by assuming the position of President of a new UKIBC Senior Leadership Council.
“I’m pleased to accept this extraordinary opportunity to work towards further strengthening UKIBC’s support to UK and Indian industry, encouraging bilateral investment, and helping businesses succeed. UKIBC will continue to bolster two-way trade and investment flows between UK and Indian businesses,” Krishna said.
Prior to this, Jayant was with the Tata group for over two decades. A British Chevening Scholar, he held various leadership roles at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), including Director, Life Sciences & Healthcare (UK & Europe), Regional Director (UK & Ireland), Regional Manager in London, Global Delivery Centre Head in India, and Global Relationship Manager for one of TCS's top five accounts worldwide, while based in London.
Earlier, Krishna was a management consultant at a division of Tata Sons. More recently, he has been Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC and Executive Director, Public Policy at the Wadhwani Foundation, focusing on Indian economic reforms and US-India bilateral business ties. He has chaired and served on multiple committees of the Government of India, chaired several taskforces of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and is an Independent Director on the Boards of various companies.
Over the past years, UKIBC has grown in size, scope, impact, and sustainability, expanding its presence in both the UK and India through the development of a range of advisory, support and consultancy services supporting both Indian and UK companies operating in the UK-India economic corridor.
Group CEO & Chair (Designate), Richard Heald, OBE said, “The combination of Jayant's insights of India, his extensive networks within government in India as well as his knowledge of UK and Indian corporates are unique. The appointment of our Group CEO in India underscores our ambition to make the UKIBC more bilateral in nature.”