Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Hospitality unicorn Oyo Hotels and Homes (Oyo) on Thursday announced that it has appointed former Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) Rajnish Kumar, as Strategic Group Advisor.

In his role, Kumar will advise Oyo’s management on short-term and long-term strategy, regulatory and stakeholder engagement, and enhancing the brand of the company globally, providing a strong leadership ahead of the company’s stock market debut.

 

“We are delighted to welcome Mr Rajnish Kumar as a Strategic Group Advisor at OYO. As we look to empower our hotel and home partners, or Patrons, as we call them, through technology, and enable our global network of customers to book and stay in affordable and trusted accommodations; we are fortunate to have Mr. Kumar steer us on our mission. Technology innovations are exciting for both Mr. Kumar and us at OYO. His experience of digitization and technology-led initiatives for the customers is critical for us,” said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and chairman, OYO.

“Ritesh (Agarwal), a first-generation entrepreneur, and his team have created a unique technology platform to make OYO a household name in the travel sector. I have always been excited about the startups which are bringing a revolutionary change in the Indian economy. Looking forward to working closely with Ritesh and his team in creating value for all stakeholders,” Kumar said.

 

Kumar joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1980 and retired as chairman in October 2020 after a distinguished career of 40 years in the bank. He is credited with overseeing the mega-merger of seven banks with India’s largest lender, one of the most difficult periods for the bank.

YONO, the digital banking platform was built from scratch under Kumar’s guidance. He is currently on the boards of HSBC Asia Pacific, L&T infotech, Hero Motocorp, and BharatPe.

 

In October, shortly after it filed for an Rs 8,430-crore ($1.2-billion) initial public offering, Oyo appointed President of the Paralympic Committee of India Deepa Malik as an independent director to its Board.

Oyo’s Board has three other independent directors and one nominee director, besides Chairman Ritesh Agarwal. The other independent directors are Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed India Partners; W Steve Albrecht, a certified internal auditor and certified fraud examiner; and Troy Alstead, former chief operations officer at Starbucks.

The Board also includes Aditya Ghosh, former director at IndiGo-parent InterGlobe Group, as a non-executive nominee director.

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