The US$ 3 billion Avantha Group, a leading global corporation with presence in more than six diverse business verticals, announced the appointment of Mr. Ash Gupta as President – Group Strategy and Business Planning. Gupta joins from Honeywell India where he was President and CEO, his previous experience includes heading global functions at GE. Gupta will devise corporate strategies and oversee the group's corporate initiatives.

Mr. Gautam Thapar, Chairman & CEO, Avantha Group said, “Avantha is embarking on a journey to significantly scale up emerging businesses and leverage its leadership position in established businesses in India and globally. Towards this end, we are strengthening Avantha’s organization structure with the appointment of Ash Gupta and welcome him on board.”

Mr. Ash Gupta said, "I look forward to this challenging assignment with the Avantha Group and hope to contribute to its significant growth.”

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About Avantha:

The US$ 3 bn Avantha Group is one of India’s leading business conglomerates. Its successful entities include BILT, Crompton Greaves, The Global Green Company, Avantha Power & Infrastructure, Solaris ChemTech, Salient Business Solutions, and Avantha Technologies. International subsidiaries include Pauwels, SFI, Intergarden, Ganz, Microsol and Sonomatra.

The Group has business interests in diverse areas including power transmission and distribution equipments and services, paper and pulp, energy, infrastructure, food processing, farm forestry, chemicals, IT and ITES. Led by Gautam Thapar, Avantha demonstrates strong leadership globally and emerges as a focused corporate, leveraging its knowledge, leadership and operations, adding lasting value for its stakeholders and investors.

The Group is on an aggressive growth path, with a targeted turnover of US$ 10 bn and a market capitalization of US$ 25 bn by 2013.