Bajaj Electricals MD Anuj Poddar to join Carlyle’s Asia leadership team

Mumbai: Global investment firm Carlyle on Monday announced the appointment of Bajaj Electricals chief executive Anuj Poddar in a newly created role of co-head of global portfolio solutions for Asia.

In his new role, Poddar will focus on Carlyle’s investments in India and Southeast Asia. He resigned from Bajaj Electricals in July after working there for over eight years, including a stint as an independent director.

“His new role dovetails with our increased focus on enhancing portfolio company value creation and as we look to increase the number of control buyout deals that we do in Asia,” said Greg Zeluck, managing director and co-head of Carlyle Asia.

“We look forward to leveraging Anuj’s extensive experience, particularly in India, as we work with our portfolio companies, with the goal to strengthen and improve their operations, accelerate growth, and drive impact.” he said in a statement.

Carlyle’s investments in India include recently listed healthcare technology firm Indegene, Piramal Pharma, PNB Housing Finance, Viyash Life Sciences, and VLCC Healthcare.

Also read | Carlyle-backed Varmora eyes a pre-IPO fundraising round of up to $150 mn

“Value creation is becoming increasingly complex and multifaceted across the region, and I look forward to working with the team and building on Carlyle’s global GPS capabilities to help portfolio companies seek to optimize performance in today’s fast evolving business environment,” Poddar said in the statement.

The turnaround of Bajaj Electricals

Poddar is widely credited with the turnaround of Bajaj Electricals, helping the manufacturer of fans and other consumer electrical equipment bridge a market share and margin gap with its peers. 

He joined Bajaj Electricals as an independent director in May 2016, before moving to an executive role in November 2018. He was appointed the managing director and chief executive officer in August 2022. He will leave the firm at the end of September.

Prior to Bajaj Electricals, Poddar worked at Viacom18 Media. He played an integral role in the company’s entry into mass entertainment and expansion into regional and international markets. While at Viacom18 Media, Poddar also led strategy for MTV Networks Asia for Southeast Asia and China, based out of Singapore.

Earlier, Poddar was a career consultant, with nearly a decade of experience with KPMG and Arthur Andersen.

Also read | Carlyle weighs $1 billion IPO for Indian IT firm Hexaware Technologies