HCL Infosystems on Tuesday announced the appointment of two new independent non-executive directors, Sangeeta Talwar and Kaushik Dutta on its board.

Sangeeta Talwar is a well-known business leader with a remarkable career spanning over 30 years. She had set up businesses, built iconic brands and managed companies across diverse areas. She has served on the Board of Directors of Tata Tea Ltd., Tata Coffee Ltd., Eight O’clock Coffee (USA), Oriental Hotels and Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. Mrs. Talwar started her career in Nestle and had also held leading positions such as - the CEO and MD of Mattel India, Executive Director for Tata Tea Limited, President-South Asia for the Tata Beverages Group and Managing Director of NDDB Dairy Services. Sangeeta was instrumental in creating the ‘Maggi’ phenomenon, the first instant food product in the country and also launching the ‘Jaago Re’ campaign for Tata Tea.

Sangeeta has won various accolades and distinctions over the years. She was acknowledged in Business Today’s 30 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business (2007, 2009 & 2010) and as The India Today Woman in the Corporate World in 2010. A very well-known speaker on Leadership and Diversity initiatives, she has also received the Women Super Achievers Award for excellent contribution to Social Marketing.

Kaushik Dutta is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India with over 25 years of rich and varied experience.  He retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers after spending over 22 years in the practice out of which 17 years have been as a partner. In PwC, he has been a member of the India Leadership Team of PwC, managed the India Advisory Board of PwC, national IFRS leader, Corporate Governance Practice leader, a partner with the Global Capital Markets Group of PwC International amongst other national and global roles. Kaushik is associated as an expert on corporate governance with The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. Kaushik has also worked with various international organizations such as the Conference Board of the U.S.A., Asian Development Bank, Institute of Directors UK, Asian Institute of Corporate Governance, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, CII, etc. 

Kaushik has co-authored a book titled ‘Corporate Governance: Myth to Reality’, which has been highly rated by the Global Forum of Corporate Governance, USA and by the Indian media. Kaushik’s another book on history of Indian business titled ‘India Means Business: How the Elephant Earned Its Stripes’ has been published by Oxford University Press. Also he has been writing extensively in the business columns of leading newspapers on governance and reporting issues. Kaushik has been a visiting faculty at IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Calcutta. Kaushik, along with some of his ex-colleagues has also founded Thought Arbitrage Research Institute, an independent not-for-profit research think tank working in areas of corporate governance, public policy and sustainability.

Commenting on the appointments, Harsh Chitale, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HCL Infosystems Ltd. said “We are very delighted that two outstanding leaders, Talwar and Dutta have joined the HCL Infosystems board. The wealth of experience and the broad range of knowledge that both leaders possess will contribute immensely to the growth and profitability of our company. We eagerly look forward to work with the new board members.”