Zee Networks ropes in Sandeep Goyal
New Delhi: Zee Networks has appointed Sandeep Goyal to the post of group CEO of Zee Networks with the responsibility to oversee the operations of all the 15 channels of Zee. Sandeep Goyal was previously with Rediffusion DYN&R as president, advertising.
Goyal is likely to take up the new assignment in mid-May.
Zee channels are facing tough times in terms of dipping TRP ratings, falling ad rates and sliding popularity. With Star Plus and Sony giving Zee hard competition the company really needs someone who can haul it out of the morass. The company has surprisingly, zeroed in on a person who is not a media veteran.
However Goyal’s 15 years of experience in the advertising industry will come in handy in gauging consumer insights, ad trends and media behaviour.

Sources in Rediffusion said Goyal’s seven-year tenure in the firm has been good for the company. During the last three years (the time when he was the president), Rediffusion’s turnover increased from Rs 250 crore to Rs 550 crore.
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Anup Varma of BPL Net quits
Mumbai: CEO of BPL Net, Anup Varma has quit. BPL Net is an Internet solutions and service provider belonging to the BPL Innovision group. It serves the enterprise and consumer market segment under its ISP brand BPL Net.

Varma joined the company in July ‘99, was in charge of looking after the company’s ISP business and was responsible for business development of end-to-end IP (Internet Protocol) solutions.
Industry sources said that a replacement for Varma is yet to be found.

His exit comes at an unfortunate time for the company. It recently missed its deadline for completion of its mega plan to set up 10 international gateways before March ‘01.

These gateways, when completed, will have the capacity to offer about 80 mbps bandwidth to the ISP’s clients.
BPL Net is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BPL Communications group a holding company for the BPL group’s cellular business in the country. The BPL Innovision business group comprises the company’s wireless, internet and broadband technology business.
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Ram Sehgal appointed president Rediffusion DY&R
Mumbai: Ram Sehgal will take over as president of Rediffusion DY&R. He is currently MD of Rediffusion’s subsidiary, Everest Integrated Communications.
Sehgal is filling in the vacancy left by Sandeep Goyal, who has moved over to Zee Network as Group CEO.
Sehgal now comes back to being the head of a top Indian ad agency. He was MD of Contract Advertising for 14 years.
Industry sources feel that Goyal’s leaving is unlikely to have much impact on the agency’s client list, with the exception of Airtel, a client that was close to Goyal.
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Kavarana resigns from Tata Engg board
Mumbai: Farouk Kavarana, executive director (corporate affairs), Tata Engineering, has resigned from the board of Tata Engineering with effect from March 31.

This follows his appointment as the chairman of the Tata group's insurance businesses -- Tata AIG Life Insurance and Tata AIG General Insurance.

Kavarana's departure from Tata Engineering comes at a time when the company is seeing its worst time, with total losses for the nine months ended being Rs 353 crore.

His exit leaves only one executive director on the board of Tata Engineering, Ravi Kant, the head of the commercial vehicles business, who was elevated to the board only last June.
Apart from insurance, Kavarana has also taken major responsibility in the information technology companies of the group. He is also the chairman of Tata Infotech. Kavarana's latest appointment is his third very important assignment with the Tata group, in an association spanning over 27 years.
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RV Shastri is new CMD of Canara Bank
Bangalore: RV Shastri, the chairman and managing director Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank will succeed RJ Kamath as the chairman and managing director of Canara Bank, one of the largest public sector banks in the country.

Mr Kamath, is due to retire on April 30. Top sources from the banking industry said that Mr Shastri’s name has been cleared and that he is waiting for a formal announcement of the same. They said that Mr Shastri faces stiff challenge from the Mumbai-based Bank of India (BoI) head Krishnamurty for the same post.
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