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LEADERSHIP

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Mr. Puneet Chhatwal joined The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in November 2017. During his tenure, IHCL has undergone a remarkable transformation, achieving responsible and profitable growth. The company’s turnaround ‘Leading Transformation at IHCL’ is now a case study at Harvard Business School. IHCL has also been recognized as the Turnaround Star at Forbes India Leadership Awards (FILA) 2025.

Today, IHCL stands as a global benchmark in the hospitality industry, with the iconic Taj brand being recognized by Brand Finance three times as the World’s Strongest Hotel Brand and named India’s Strongest Brand across sectors for the fourth time. IHCL also made history as the first Indian hospitality company to surpass a Market Capitalization of ₹1 trillion. IHCL today ranks 4th globally in market cap amongst all listed hospitality management companies.

Mr. Chhatwal serves as the leading voice of the industry in India in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Committee of Tourism and Hospitality, CII, and Chairman of Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH).

Prior to this, Mr. Chhatwal was the Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Executive Board of Steigenberger Hotels AG – Deutsche Hospitality based out of Frankfurt, Germany. He was also the Chief Development Officer of The Rezidor Hotel Group – Carlson Hotels Worldwide based out of Brussels, Belgium. Mr. Chhatwal is a graduate of both, Delhi University and Institute of Hotel Management, Delhi. He has completed an MBA in Hospitality from 
ESSEC, Paris and an Advanced Management Program from INSEAD.

Throughout his international career, Mr. Chhatwal has received several acclaimed awards and is the First Alumnus included in the ESSEC-IMHI Hall of Honour 2014. He has been honoured with induction into the prestigious Global Travel Hall of Fame by Travel Weekly UK, Hall of Fame Award at the 39th IATO Annual Convention and Rotary Club of Bombay’s Ramkrishna Bajaj Award for good governance.

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

Puneet Chhatwal

Ankur is a seasoned finance professional with experience across Corporate Finance & Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Planning spanning real estate, hospitality & infrastructure sectors. He joined the IHCL family from Group CFO’s Office in Tata Sons, where, as Senior Vice President he worked closely with group companies on strategic business planning, value enhancement and business performance management. Prior to the Tata group, Ankur led the Real Estate Lending business at L&T Financial Services. Previously, he has also helmed other notable positions, as President (Corporate Strategy) at Aditya Birla Group and senior level positions at leading Investment Banks - Jefferies India, IDFC Capital and DSP Merrill Lynch.

Ankur holds an engineering degree from NIT, Rourkela and a MBA (Finance) from S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai.

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Ankur Dalwani

Ms. Venkatesh heads the company’s Development, Technical Services and Projects functions. She oversees IHCL’s initiatives for growth through greenfield developments, acquisitions, licenses and management contracts. Over the last 16 years with IHCL, she has been involved in tripling the Group’s inventory to 178 hotels with over 21000 keys. Ms. Venkatesh is an Electrical Engineer by training and holds a Master’s Degree in Management Studies from the Mumbai University in India. She has over 26 years of cross functional experience across industries. Before joining IHCL, she has worked in different functions across multiple industry sectors in India.

Executive Vice President – Real Estate & Development

Suma Venkatesh

Gaurav brings with him 28 years of rich experience in Operations. He has essayed a number of critical roles along the way such as General Manager – The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai, Area Director - New Delhi & GM - Taj Palace, New Delhi, Senior Vice President - Operations Delhi, NCR & Rajasthan, Senior Vice President - Operations NCR, UP, Uttarakhand, Jaipur & Ajmer and most recently, Senior Vice President – Operations, North.

Gaurav has an MBA in International Hospitality - Marketing and Innovation from the Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland, and a Diploma in Hotel Management from IHM Pusa.

He is a go-getter and carries a ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude which has helped him break barriers, present out of the box solutions and rally teams. Gaurav is known for his decision making ability, commitment and passion towards his work. He has an innate understanding of people and enjoys getting the best out of them, qualities that will hold him in good stead.

Executive Vice President – Human Resources

Gaurav Pokhariyal

Mr. Rajendra Misra joined IHCL as General Counsel on 1st December 2015. The Legal and Company Secretarial functions at IHCL report to him. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B.) from the University of Calcutta, and is a Post Graduate Diploma in Patents Law (PGDPL) from the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University (NALSAR). He has also completed the Hawkesmere Course on International Intellectual Property Law from London. 

Mr. Misra is a seasoned business legal professional with more than 24 years’ experience in the legal field. During this period, he has served as in-house legal counsel of several leading business corporations like Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and ITC Limited. His experience spans across many sectors, including Personal care, Home care, Tobacco, Food, Lifestyle retailing, Aluminium and Tyre industry. He has extensive experience and expertise in various legal fields, including Litigation Management, Intellectual Property Management, Competition law, Corporate laws, driving strategic business initiatives etc.

Before joining IHCL, Mr. Misra was the Senior Legal Counsel of HUL and a member of the HUL Leadership Team. He led the Legal team partnering the Personal Care and Home Care businesses of HUL, and was the Global Brand Legal Counsel for two iconic Unilever brands – Lifebuoy and Fair & Lovely, apart from serving as the Brand Development Counsel for the South Asia region. Prior to joining HUL, Mr. Misra was the Associate General Counsel of ITC. He began his career as in-house counsel with the Indian Aluminium Company Limited (Indal).

Executive Vice President & General Counsel

Rajendra Misra

Parveen brings with him 31 years of experience in Operations. He has successfully executed many critical leadership roles within the organization at the helm of hotels such as Taj Lands End, Mumbai, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, and Taj Lake Palace Udaipur. Parveen has also provided strong leadership to our hotels in the West in his roles as Area Director Pune & Nashik and Area Director – West.

Parveen has an MBA in International Hospitality - Marketing and Innovation from the Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland, a Bachelor’s Degree from University of Delhi and a Diploma in Hotel Management from IHM Pusa.

He is a strategic thinker and formidable executer. His focus on building relationships with multiple stakeholders and leveraging them to enhance customer experiences sets him apart from the rest.

Executive Vice President – Commercial

Mr. Parveen Chander Kumar

Ms. Rao heads the company’s New Businesses, Hotel Openings and Corporate Communications departments. She is the Chairperson of Roots Corporation Ltd. and Ideal Ice Ltd., the legal entities for Ginger, amã Stays & Trails and Qmin brands. She is also responsible for managing the Company’s industry-leading pipeline of 90+ hotels and engaging with all external stakeholders on the company’s strategy and its execution through her Corporate Communications role. 

Deepika is a postgraduate in Economics, she belongs to the Tata Administrative Services cadre and began her career with Tata Motors. She joined Indian hotels in 2006 and has held various responsibilities in functions such as Business Development, Asset Management and MD and CEO of Roots Corporation - the company that operates Ginger hotels where she led the re-imagination of the brand and scaled the portfolio to 85+ hotels.

Executive Vice President – New Businesses, Hotel Openings & Corporate Communications

Deepika Rao

Mr. Khosla joined IHCL in 1999 as Executive Assistant Manager at the capital’s iconic landmark, Taj Palace, New Delhi, and has held several positions within the group since then. Currently, he oversees hotels in the Northern and Eastern states of India (Delhi, Rajasthan, J&K, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Sikkim) and the operations of Taj Safaris in India and Nepal. He is a Post Graduate from the Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai, and has been felicitated with numerous industry awards, including the Young Hotel General Manager in 2006 by the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), General Manager of the Year in 2006 by ITM Institute of Hotel Management & DNA, and International Achiever of the Year award by PATWA at ITB Berlin, Germany in 2019. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Hotel Association of India (HAI) and SKAL, Chairman of Tata Network Forum – North, member of the CII National Committee and WTTCII, and has served as the past Chairman of the CII Northern Tourism Regional Committee.

Executive Vice President – Operations, North and East India

Rohit Khosla

Mr. Prabhat Verma, a hotel management graduate from IHMCTAN, Kolkata joined IHCL in the year 1990 as a Management Trainee and has held key positions like General Manager of Taj Malabar, Cochin, and Taj Coromandel, Chennai. He was re-located as Hotel Manager to Crowne Plaza, St. James Court and 51 Buckingham Gate, the London properties of the Taj. He subsequently took over as General Manager - Crowne Plaza, St. James and 51 Buckingham gate, London. Mr. Verma has won numerous industry accolades including Young General Manager of the Year 2005, 5 Star Deluxe category by FHRAI and the 'International Cooperation between the UK and India Award' (2012) by Asian Voice.

Executive Vice President - Operations, South India, International & Expressions

Prabhat Verma

Mr. Somnath Mukherjee is a seasoned hospitality leader with over 30 years of experience, having begun his journey with IHCL in 1992 at Taj Bengal. He has since held senior leadership roles at iconic properties such as Umaid Bhawan Palace, Rambagh Palace, Taj West End, and Taj Lands End. He later served as Area Director – Karnataka, before being elevated to Senior Vice President – Operations, West.
 
Currently, as Executive Vice President, Mr. Mukherjee leads IHCL’s operations across Maharashtra and Gujarat. He also heads the Corporate Food and Beverage division, driving innovation and strategic alignment across the company’s culinary initiatives. As a member of the IHCL Executive Committee, he helps shape key operational and strategic priorities.
 
An alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program, Mr. Mukherjee brings global insight to the Indian hospitality sector. His accolades include the Best Hotelier Award in Paris, the Governor’s Award for Exceptional Service to Maharashtra, and several national honors.

Executive Vice President – Operations, West and Head of Food & Beverage

Somnath Mukherjee

Mr. Desai has over 34 years of rich, extensive & cross functional experience and specialises in the areas of Legal, Secretarial, Corporate Governance, Compliance & Investor relations. He has worked in leadership positions across diversified sectors including Hospitality, Pharmaceuticals, Forging, etc. He holds an LLB degree and is a fellow member of Institute of the Company Secretaries of India, besides attending Harvard leadership programme. He has pioneered digitisation of various legal & compliance projects within the organisation.

He has won several National & International awards, notably Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance – 2019 by Institute of Directors, London I Best Company Secretary – Leisure & Hospitality – Asia 2019 by Ethical Boardroom, London I Best Corporate Governance in India & Asia from Ethical Board, London for two consecutive years in a row in 2018 & 2019 respectively I He was also conferred a certificate of excellence in Corporate Governance from Institute of the Company Secretaries of India and Best All India Investor Relations Award 2017.

Executive Vice President – Corporate Affairs & Company Secretary (Group)

Beejal Desai

S Y Raman heads Internal Audit, in which role, he is responsible for the function across the Taj Group. Raman has 27 years of work experience, all of which are with the Tata Group - 16 years with Tata Global Beverages Limited and 11 years with the Taj Group. At the Taj, he has served as Head of Finance at Taj SATS Air Catering Limited, the erstwhile Taj Business SBU and Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Limited. His stints at Tata Global Beverages Limited included positions of Head of Finance in an overseas JV assignment, CFO at Mount Everest Mineral Water Limited (makers of Himalayan natural mineral water) and CFO at NourishCo Beverages Limited (the Tata – PepsiCo JV). Raman is an Honours graduate in Commerce (from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata), a Chartered Accountant, a Cost Accountant and a Company Secretary.