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Air conditioning and commercial refrigeration major, Blue Star Limited, has announced the appointment of two new members on its Board, Mr Murlidhar Gangadharan and Mr Vipin Sondhi. Both are being inducted in the capacity of Additional Directors designated as Independent Directors, with effect from January 30, 2024, for a period of five years. These members will further strengthen the Board with their rich and diverse experience.

Mr Murlidhar Gangadharan is a finance professional with around 40 years of expertise across various industries including insurance, financial services, manufacturing, and pharma. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Mumbai University, apart from being a Chartered Account, Cost Accountant and Company Secretary. He also completed the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.  In the first part of his career,

Mr Murlidhar gained experience across a variety of businesses in manufacturing including engineering, electrical safety, pharmaceutical, and glass manufacturing having worked with reputed companies such as Gujarat Glass (now Piramal Glass), Ion Exchange, Nicholas Piramal Pharmaceuticals and MDS Switchgear (Now Legrand). Thereafter, in 2000, he transitioned to financial services and was the Founding Member of Kotak Life Insurance where he played a significant role in spearheading one of the fastest-growing life insurance companies in India and rose to become its Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer. Having worked at all levels in a finance function from accountant to head of finance, Mr Murlidhar is passionate about designing talent development and performance management processes that transform teams into high-performing centers of excellence.

Mr Vipin Sondhi has four decades of experience in the Manufacturing and Engineering arena. He holds a bachelor’s degree in technology in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi and a Post Graduate Management Degree from IIM, Ahmedabad. Mr Sondhi has been the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Tecumseh India, JCB India and most recently Ashok Leyland. He has also worked

with other reputed organisations including Escorts Group, Shriram Honda Power Equipment and Tata Iron & Steel Company. Mr Sondhi has also held several Advisory roles such as Chairperson, National Board for Quality Promotion, Quality Council of India; Member, Technology Advisory Group to Empowered Technology Group (Appointed by Principal Scientific, Advisor to Govt. of India) and Member, Consultative Group of Experts on e-Mobility, Niti Aayog, Govt. of India. In addition, he has been a past Vice President, Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and on the Board of several NGOs such as Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust, Ananta Centre, and Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation.”

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