Mr. Gopal Vittal is a 25th batch alumnus of IIM Calcutta. Gopal is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Airtel - India and South Asia. After finishing his studies at Madras Christian College he completed his PGDM at I.I.M. Calcutta and joined Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), one of India's biggest FMCG companies in 1990. One of his HUL milestones was Project Bharat, a rural-reach strategy that incentivized people in rural areas to try HUL products. During the various global and national responsibilities he held during his 20 years stint at Unilever, he gathered a wealth of experience in assimilating the consumer mind set, managing operations efficiently, winning with the customer, building brand and innovating to secure market leadership.
In 2006, Gopal joined Airtel, India’s leading mobile service provider, to create a central marketing function and focus on customer segmentation and bundled offers. He has played a pivotal role in establishing Airtel as the country’s one of the largest telecom services company and an admired brand. During his tenure, he helped to strategize, design and lead several industry wide initiatives for the organization. He oversaw a quadrupling of Airtel’s subscriber base from 33 million customers to 122 million customers by expanding footprint to Tier-2 cities.
In his role as MD & CEO of the reputed privately integrated telecom operator of the country, he is responsible for defining and delivering the business strategy and providing overall leadership for Airtel’s India & South Asia operations. He was previously with Bharti Enterprises where he was the Group Director, Special Projects. In this capacity, he worked towards formulating and supporting Airtel’s International strategy and data expansion. He also held the post of Director, Marketing at Bharti Airtel and made significant contributions towards driving revenue growth, market leadership and building Airtel as an iconic brand on several national and global assignments across sales. During his stint as Director, Marketing & Communications, Airtel had been recognized as both the ‘Best Brand’ and the ‘Best Mobile Operator’ at the World Communications Award, 2007. Under his leadership Airtel has been recognized as the second most valuable brand in the country by Brand Equity.
Gopal Vittal receiving his award