The Hindu : Indian to helm mobile phone giant

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 26, 2003

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Indian to helm mobile phone giant

By Anand Parthasarathy

BANGALORE JULY 25. On Friday next (August 1) an Indian engineer — a graduate of IIT Kharagpur — will take over as Chief Executive of the world's biggest mobile phone company, the $100 million U.K.-based Vodafone. That will make Arun Sarin Britain's most powerful Asian businessman. According to a poll by The Guardian newspaper he will now be among the "Top Ten" of "New Media" leaders in that country.

Mr. Sarin (49) has been a director of Cisco Systems, the networking switching giant; the CEO of Vodafone's U.S. and Asia-Pacific operations and Chief Operating Officer of Airtouch, a U.S.-based wireless provider. Born in India, he did his B.Tech at IIT Kharagpur and obtained both an MS and MBA from University of California at Berkeley by 1978.

Well known for his managerial and technical skills, Mr. Sarin is widely expected to make sharp changes at Vodafone to retain the company's leadership position in mobile services. And he does not come cheap. His pay package is said to be in excess of one million pounds sterling per annum — and his productivity bonuses could be four times as much.

Can't be sacked by e-mail

When his contract was drawn up a few weeks ago it included a curious requirement: It says he cannot be sacked "by electronic mail or any other electronic messaging service". This is the first known instance of a senior executive insisting that hiring and firing must be done with dignity. It followed days after another U.K.-based company the Accident Group, terminated 2,400 staff via a terse e-mail.

Mr. Sarin has struck a blow on behalf of courtesy in an increasingly faceless, graceless Internet era. If his time comes he may have to go — but not through an SMS message that says "U R OUT".

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