Ex-HUL Chairman Vindi Banga to join Marks & Spencer board

UK-based global retailer Marks and Spencer Group Plc today announced appointment of Manvinder (Vindi) Banga, the former Chairman of Hindustan Unilever to its board as a Non-Executive Director with effect from September 1, 2011.

Banga is currently an operating partner at private equity investment firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice. Prior to this, he spent 33 years at Unilever Plc where he was the former President of the Global Foods, Home and Personal Care businesses, and member of the Unilever Executive Board.

He was also President Home and Personal, Asia, and Chairman and Managing Director of HUL.

"He (Banga) brings a wealth of experience of global business and extensive consumer and brand knowledge. His insights will further support the Board discussion on our strategy, set out by Marc Bolland in November 2010, to become an international multi-channel retailer," Marks & Spencer Chairman Robert Swannell said in a statement.

"Vindi is a non-executive director of Thomson Reuters and Maruti Suzuki India. He has sat on the Prime Minister of India's Council of Trade and Industry since 2004," the statement said.

Banga is also on the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and the governing board of the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, it added.

Marks & Spencer had entered India in 2001-02 through a franchise agreement with Planet Retail. In 2008, it announced a 51:49 joint venture with Reliance Retail.

The JV -- Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd operates 20 stores in India, according to the company's official website.