People in news: Pawan Munjal, Amit Jain and more

BIG SHOES TO FILL

Pawan Munjal, who took over as Chairman, MD and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, has big shoes to fill. He is taking over from Brijmohan Lall Munjal, who, as the Chairman since 1984, turned the company, which was formed as a JV between Hero Cycles and Honda Motor, into the world's largest two-wheeler maker. Munjal inherits a company which has robust financials and strong brand equity. Things, however, are getting challenging. The competition is getting tougher, and the shelf life of technology is getting shorter. An engineer by education and a golfer by passion, Munjal would need to borrow a bit from both to make his and his company's stay at the top both cherishing as well as long-lasting. - Dipak Mondal

RIDE ALONG

US-based taxi app company Uber has, for the first time, appointed a country head. Amit Jain, the former president of Rent.com, took over as the head of Uber India recently. The company typically only operates through city leads. Jain's appointment comes at a tricky time for Uber, with the Delhi government rejecting the licence applications of cab aggregators. The company says it is continuing a dialogue with both the Centre and state governments. - Goutam Das

STEP UP

Known for his performance-oriented approach and a favourite of many in the PMO, P.K. Sinha is now the country's new Cabinet Secretary. Sinha, who has earlier held the roles of power and shipping secretaries, is the senior most IAS officer in the country and will take over from Ajit Seth, who got three extensions from the Narendra Modi government. In his two-year tenure, Sinha will have to steer the government's executive to work as a cohesive unit. - Anilesh S. Mahajan

NEW FACES

Vijai Sharma, a retired 1974 batch IAS officer, takes over as the country's new CIC, a post lying vacant since last August. Sharma has the tough task of disbursing some 16,000 appeals and complaints pending, before his tenure ends in December. Meanwhile, K.V. Chowdary, a 1975 batch IPS officer, is the new CVC despite many opposing his appointment. He has earlier handled investigations against influential people, like Nitin Gadkari and J. Jayalalithaa. - Anilesh S. MahajanFRESH BEGINNINGS

After much speculation, Infosys has finally announced that Ramaswami Seshasayee will be its new Non-executive Chairman. He was earlier an independent director on the company's board since 2011. A Hinduja Group veteran, Seshasayee steered the fortunes of Ashok Leyland for 35 years. Meanwhile, Mahendra Kumar Sharma, former Vice President of Hindustan Unilever, has been appointed as the Non-executive Chairman of ICICI Bank. Sharma's association with ICICI Bank is over a decade old. Both Seshasayee and Sharma succeed K.V. Kamath, who takes over as the President of the BRIC-promoted New Development Bank. - Venkatesha Babu