New Delhi, NFAPost: Bharti Airtel appointed Soumen Ray as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for India & South Asia from December 21. He will replace Badal Bagri Bagri, who is moving on to pursue opportunities outside of India’s second largest mobile phone company.
Soumen Ray’s appointment comes at a time the telecom industry is going through a phase of debt restructuring and government intervention. Soumen Ray will report to Gopal Vittal, Managing Director (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel, the telecom company said.
Expressing happiness over Soumen Ray appointment, Gopal Vittal said Soumen Ray brings in the right mix of domain expertise, commercial acumen, strategy and business partnering.
Soumen Ray is a chartered accountant with over 23 years of experience in financial planning, management accounting, factory commercial, treasury and corporate accounts. He will be joining Airtel from Bajaj Auto, where he is currently the CFO.
Since 2018, Soumen Ray has been associated with Bajaj Auto and has worked across the entire finance, treasury and taxation spectrum. Prior to this, he has held senior positions in finance and strategy at Viacom18, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Eveready Industries India, Airtel said.
Bagri, who had taken over as CFO in March 2019, oversaw Airtel returning to the black in the midst of steep competition from Reliance Jio. Bharti Airtel has also raised nearly Rs 42,000 crore in qualified institutional placements, the right issue and foreign currency convertible bonds during 2019-2020.
