5 dept heads of Electrolux Kelvinator quit

Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd has lost the heads of its five key departments - marketing, sales, services, manufacturing and human resources - in the last few months.

Among those who have quit the company are Anand Bhardwaj, vice-president (marketing), Arun Sharma, vice-president (sales), Anil Bhushan Singhal, vice-president (manufacturing), Subhash Verma, vice-president (services) and Shantanu Banerjee, vice-president (human resources).

When contacted, Electrolux Kelvinator Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Karwal said the only "real" exit from the company was that of Banerjee.

"All other positions fell vacant over the past few months and, in some cases, were planned more than a year ago," he told Business Standard.

Karwal said Bhardwaj was already on his way out when he joined the company and Sharma and Verma were serving their notice, though they left only recently. "Singhal was concerned only with the Varora unit," Karwal added.

Karwal also said that most of these positions have been filled up in the past few months. Some realignment of key posts has also been undertaken by the company.

For instance, there will now be only one head for marketing and sales. In July, the company announced the appointment of Rajesh Puri as VP, sales and marketing. Puri was hired from Om Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd.

In July, Electrolux had announced an A-Team which was responsible for strengthening the company's thrust in the Indian market place.

Even HR head Banerjee, who quit last week, was part of this team.

The changes have come at a time when Electrolux Kelvinator is in the process of implementing new strategies to turn the company around.