ABD India fortifies its board, appoints two independent directors

New Delhi: The makers of one of the world’s largest consumed brands, ‘Officers Choice,’ the flagship of Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD Pvt Ltd) have announced the induction of Nasser Munjee and Balaji Swaminathan as independent directors, in line with the highest standard of corporate governance.

ABD is the largest Indian Spirits company and the third largest in India. The new appointments bring a great amount of cognitive diversity to the board, with luminaries from the worlds of banking, wealth management, audit and infrastructure financing.

A brief profile of each of the Independent Directors is as follows:

Naseer Munjee – During his long and distinguished career, he has been a part of creation and building of some of India’s foremost financial institutions. He began with the creation of the first mortgage company in India, the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) with which he associated with for twenty years, rising to be its Executive Director. He subsequently created the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) in joint partnership with the government and both domestic and international institutions.

Currently, he is on the board of ten public companies in India, such as Cummins India Ltd, Ambuja Cements Ltd, Tata Motors Finance Ltd and The India Hotels Company Ltd, amongst others. He is also associated with a few international institutions, like – Jaguar Land Rover Plc UK, Greenko Mauritius, Advisory Group of City of London and the executive Committee of the World Islamic Economic Forum.

Bala Swaminathan is the Founder & CEO of a regulated fund management and wealth advisory business in Singapore focusing on credit opportunities and advising accredited investors on their investment portfolio. With two decades of banking experience in Asia, he has a proven track record in building regional businesses & deep expertise in risk management. He is a chartered accountant as well as Cost & Works Accountant and has completed an Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Bala Swaminathan has had a distinguished career in banking. He was Westpac Banking Corporation’s President of International between 2012 and 2018 with overall responsibility for Westpac’s operations in Asia, Europe & America. Prior to joining Westpac, he worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch as its Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Global Corporate and Investment Banking

Bala Swaminathan has been an independent board member of listed companies in India, including JSW Steel, Orient Paper, First source and Arvind Mills. He has been an advisory board member of Standard Chartered Private Bank & Westpac Banking Corporation.

On these two appointments, Shekhar Ramamurthy, Executive Deputy Chairman, ABD Pvt Ltd, said, “We are delighted with the addition of seasoned and eminent professionals to our board. As we continue to drive the growth agenda in our business, we look forward to the contribution of all our board members in our pursuit of excellence. This also reinforces our commitment to the highest standards of corporate governance.”