Former Google India Interim Head Vikas Agnihotri Set To Hitch SoftBank

Vikas Agnihotri, till not too long ago the interim head of Google India, has joined Japanese funding main SoftBank as its first working accomplice in India.

In a press release despatched out by the Tokyo-headquartered investor, late on Thursday, and after ET reached out to it looking for affirmation of the appointment, mentioned Agnihotri will “foster nearer connections with the area’s expertise ecosystem and the SBIA’s international community.”

Earlier, when contacted by ET over the phone, Agnihotri who was formally designated managing director for gross sales at Google India, didn’t get into the specifics of his new task. “Wait until tomorrow,” he mentioned.

SoftBank’s India funding are led by Sumer Juneja, who was beforehand with Norwest Enterprise Companions, and had come on board in November final yr. Imaginative and prescient Fund-1, which is managed by SB Funding Advisors, has already invested over $10 billion in Indian firms,

Agnihotri’s probably appointment additionally coincides with SoftBank’s long-standing seek for a number of working companions in its Mumbai workplace, as reported by ET in July 2019.

It has been a tumultuous few months for the Japanese strategic holding firm, which has been taking extreme flak for its function within the WeWork preliminary public providing debacle, placing its total funding technique underneath the scanner.

At Google, Agnihotri had succeeded Rajan Anandan, the expertise large’s long-serving vp for South East Asia and India, in April final yr in an interim capability, although formally he remained managing director for gross sales, a put up he had assumed in October 2018.

Agnihotri had resigned from Google within the final weeks of December, almost a month after the affirmation of former Star India president Sanjay Gupta as Google’s India head, formally designated as nation supervisor and vice-president of gross sales and operations, folks conversant in the event mentioned. Gupta, based on Google sources, formally took cost on Wednesday.

A seasoned banker, Agnihotri joined Google in 2011 from Religare Macquarie Personal Wealth Administration (the place he was CEO) as an business director for a number of verticals together with banking, monetary companies and insurance coverage (BFSI), client package deal items, telecom, journey, and media and leisure. He grew to become nation director of gross sales for Google India in Might 2018 earlier than turning into the managing director for gross sales.

In Google circles, Agnihotri was considered a key lieutenant of Anandan and member of a core management group the latter had assembled round 2011-12, together with Nitin Bawankule and Neeraj Bansal. Bawankule had leftGoogle India final yr to develop into president of advert gross sales at Star Community.―Newpaper24