Footwear major Bata India Limited has appointed Ashwani Windlass as the chairman of the board of directors, effective Wednesday. Windlass succeeds Uday Khanna, who relinquished his position in August after serving as the chairman for eight years.
Windlass, 63, has been appointed as an additional director of the company to hold office as an independent director for a period of five consecutive years, subject to shareholders’ approval. He had earlier served as joint managing director of Max India, founder managing director of Hutchison Max Telecom (later rechristened Vodafone India) and vice-chairman and managing director of Reliance Telecom.
Since 2008, he has been part of US-based global research firm MGRM Inc and is also on the boards of several companies such as Hitachi MGRM Net Ltd, Vodafone Idea, Max Financial Services, Max India, Hindustan Media Ventures and Jubilant Foodworks.
Bata said that Windlass has first-hand experience in traditional and new-age technology companies with a track record of value creation.
Bata also reported a rise in net profit of 28.2 per cent during the quarter to Rs 71.4 crore against Rs 55.7 crore a year ago. Revenue from operations during the quarter was Rs 722 crore against Rs 673.1 crore in the year-ago period, a growth of 7.3 per cent.
“While the market has slowed down this year, Bata India continues to sustain its leadership with growth in turnover and profit. Our momentum is driven on the back of continuous investment done over the past few years in areas of product innovation, store renovation, customer experience and marketing,” said Sandeep Kataria, chief executive officer, Bata India Ltd.
At Rs 1,683.85, the Bata scrip was down 1.19 per cent over the previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
He added that the company has expanded its footprint through the franchising model along with a focus on the e-commerce led omni-channel platform.
“We also employed multiple cost savings initiative along with restructuring of contracts and long-term negotiations, thereby helping us realize better margins and profits,” he added.
