The Essar Group, in January 2018, appointed Kaustubh Sonalkar as President-HR, and Chief Executive Officer–Essar Foundation, the CSR arm of Essar Group.
Kaustubh holds a bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Mumbai and has a master’s degree in Personnel Management from the University of Pune (HR & Behavioural Sciences). He also has an MSc. from the London School of Economics. Additionally, he is a Chartered Fellow of CIPD (United Kingdom) and Chartered Fellow of CPHR (Australia).
With more than 20 years of experience, Kaustubh brings to the table a rich and vast experience of having worked in multiple sectors and geographies, with renowned companies. This is his second stint with Essar-he was affiliated with Essar Energy for many years. Prior to this stint at Essar, he was associated with Future Group as the Group Chief People Officer. He was also the Senior Partner/Executive Director at PWC.
Kaustubh joins Essar at a strategic inflection point in its evolution. Having completed a Rs 1,20,000 crore capital expenditure programme and a Rs 77,000 crore deleveraging campaign (the largest by any Indian corporate) in 2017, Essar is on a sustainable growth trajectory. A company forged from a strong entrepreneurial vision, people centricity has always been at the heart of Essar’s cultural ethos.
It has promoted the spirit of entrepreneurship in its people, as well as in the communities that it impacts. In tandem with employee-centric policies and practices, Essar, through the Essar Foundation, has been working towards the uplift of the communities around the company’s manufacturing locations across eight Indian states.
It has touched the lives of a million people across 500 villages in areas like education, health, environment, skill development and women’s empowerment.
On appointment, Kaustubh said, “I look forward to this new, exciting role that will require me to engage with both our people and the community at large, the pillars on which Essar stands, and take the brand to loftier heights.”
RK Sukhdevsinhji, Director-Essar, said, “In this challenging dual role, Kaustubh will be charged with building on the strong people and community focus that will continue to define Essar’s journey into its next phase of growth. Aside from his versatile experience and professional competence, what sets Kaustubh apart is his familiarity with our ethos. I welcome him back to Essar and wish him the very best.”
