Tata Steel's Rajesh Kumar appointed Balco's new CEO & WTD

India’s iconic aluminium producer and a subsidiary of Vedanta Aluminium Business, Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), appointed Rajesh Kumar as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Whole Time Director (WTD).

When it comes to operations, maintenance, project implementation, and efficient development in Tata Steel's Indian and Thai facilities, Rajesh Kumar has extensive industry experience spanning 36 years. He graduated from Banaras Hindu University with a B Tech in Mechanical Engineering (IIT BHU) and obtained his master's degree in business administration from XLRI, Jamshedpur, where he won a gold medal in finance (MBA).

Rajesh Kumar, the new CEO of BALCO, has a wealth of experience in large-scale project execution, organizational excellence, and plant commissioning. He has significantly aided multiple business mergers and acquisitions and has steered various industrial facilities towards setting world-class production, productivity, and quality benchmarks.

He has managed various tasks: profit centres, manufacturing, total quality management, operations, industrial safety, production and quality improvement, project engineering, digitization, logistics, human resource development, financial analysis, leadership, and strategy.

Kumar succeeds Abhijit Pati, who has been named Chief Transformation Officer at Vedanta Aluminium. Pati will play an essential role in expanding the aluminium and alumina projects, vertical integration, downstream aluminium business development, and many other areas, in addition to achieving Vedanta's Center of Excellence and Environmental, Social, and Governance verticals' goals.

Abhijit Pati’s contribution to Vedanta's largest greenfield aluminium smelter project in Jharsuguda, Odisha, is a notable addition to his efforts, propelling Balco to new heights in ESG, operational excellence, and human resources.