New Delhi: IndiGo, India’s largest airline by passengers carried and fleet size with over 53 per cent domestic market share, has appointed Venkataramani Sumantran as the chairman of the Board of Directors. Sumantran is a business leader, academic and technocrat and has worked in the USA, Europe and Asia in his career span of 37 years. Sumantran will replace Meleveetil Damodaran, who has stepped down from the board after turning 75. Sumantran has been an independent non-executive director since May 28, 2020.

 “As we get ready for the next phase of our ambitious overseas expansion, Sumantran’s understanding of international markets and world-class global practices will serve us well. His repertoire of knowledge of how best to leverage technology will be extremely valuable in our future growth. With safety and employee engagement as our key pillars, we have always found Sumantran's insights invaluable,” said Rahul Bhatia, managing director of IndiGo.

Prior to this, he was executive vice-chairman of Hinduja Automotive (UK) and vice-chairman of Ashok Leyland till 2014. From 2001-2005 Sumantran was executive director at Tata Motors and CEO of the passenger car business during its formative years. He also had a 16-year career with General Motors, starting in the R&D centre in Detroit before becoming director of advanced engineering at Europe.

A recipient of the distinguished alumnus award at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Sumantran said: “Now, as the world moves beyond COVID-19, we look forward to serving many more customers while offering them a new digital experience; adding new routes, of them international; expanding our cargo operations, and continuing to augment our fleet with fuel-efficient aircraft including the XLRS and dedicated freighters.” /BI/