Jayant Kumar has taken charge as the new CHRO for ACC and Ambuja Cement, which is now part of the Adani Group of companies. Jai Khurana, who was the CEO for South ports at Adani Ports & SEZ has stepped into the shoes of Kumar as the head-HR for Adani Ports & SEZ, sources close to the development tell HRKatha.
Kumar will take up his responsibilities as CHRO for ACC & Ambuja Cement business at Adani starting today, that is, 1 October, 2022.
This appointment follows close on the heels of the acquisition of ACC & Ambuja Cement by the Adani Group in the month of September.
The Group completed the acquisition of ACC and Ambuja Cement from Switzerland’s Holcim Group for $ 6.5 billion, probably the largest ever acquisition by Adani and India’s largest M&A transaction in the infrastructure and material space, as revealed in the Company’s release.
Having spent close to four years as the joint president – HR at Adani Ports & SEZ, Kumar was spearheading the HR function for the Group’s ports and logistics business. He carries more than 25 years of experience in HR and has worked for large conglomerates such as Reliance, Tata and Marico.
Before joining Adani, Kumar spent more than five years at Tata Power. Three years of this tenure were spent as the chief – business HR and another two years as the CHRO.
During the initial days of his career, Kumar gained vast experience in the power sector, having spent 11 years as manager-HR at NTPC and then a year with North Delhi Power as head-ER.
Before moving to Tata Power, he served as the executive vice president-HR at Marico for over a year. He was also associated with Tata Teleservices as VP-HR. He worked in the talent management domain for less than a year during a short stint as GM-HR, with Reliance Communications.
With a degree in personnel management from the Xavier Institute of Social Sciences (XISS), he studied law from the Mumbai University and completed a PhD in talent management too.
Khurana, who comes with a background in business development, has spent a major chunk of his career leading the business development function in the logistics sector and specialising in the same. He is one of the best examples of Adani’s internally developed leadership talent, as he has spent more than 10 years with the Group in various business-development leadership roles, part of the logistics business.
Khurana has a mixed experience of working with big conglomerates such as Tata and OP Jindal Group, and with a PSU such as ONGC where he spent more than four years.
Before Adani, Khurana worked with Jindal ITF, part of Jindal SAW, the logistics services arm of OP Jindal Group, for three years. He also spent six years at Tata Martrade International Logistics, a subsidiary of Tata Steel, leading profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities and business development.