Within a day of leaving the Tata Group after a two-decades-plus stint, former head of Tata Power Anil Sardana joined Adani Transmissions as its new managing director and chief executive effective May 1.
After occupying various top positions at different Tata Group companies for more than two decades, Sardana resigned from Tata Power this January as MD and CEO, citing "personal" reasons and his last working day at the Tatas April 30, 2018.
After the announcement of Sardana's exit, speculation was rife that the step was the result of Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran's massive restructuring plans for group by consolidating over 30 companies and over 100 businesses under five verticals and also fill up the key positions in the company with fresh blood.
As part of the exercise, the group was planning to create a defence and infrastructure vertical by bringing in the power projects and defence-related businesses under one roof, and it would be headed by former GE executive Banmali Agrawala.
Sardana, who comes with over three decades of experience in the power and infrastructure sector, started his career with the national power company NTPC and subsequently worked with BSES, which is now Reliance Infra.
Announcing the appointment, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said "Sardana joins us at a very critical phase as we recently entered the power distribution space with acquisition of the Mumbai GTD (generation, distribution and distribution) business" which it is acquiring from Reliance Infra.
He further said Sardana's vast experience in the power sector will play an important role in taking the group's transmission business to new heights.
Adani Transmission has 8,500 circuit kilometers of transmission lines in operations now.
It can be recalled that last December, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infra announced the sale of its Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission for Rs 18,800 crore. Both the companies had signed definitive binding agreement for 100 per cent stake sale.
RInfra had said it would utilise the proceeds entirely to reduce its debt.
RInfra's Mumbai power business has a consumer base of 3 million residential, industrial and commercial customers in the suburbs, covering an area of 400 sqkm.
Sardana is has an electrical engineering degree from Delhi University.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
