R Mukundan Elected CII President for 2026-27; Suchitra Ella Named President-Designate

Mukundan takes over from Rajiv Memani following the election of new office bearers by the newly constituted National Council of CII.

The industry body also appointed Suchitra K Ella, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, as President-Designate for 2026-27. Shashwat Goenka, Vice-Chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, has been named Vice President.

Mukundan joined the Tata Administrative Service in 1990 after completing an MBA from FMS, University of Delhi. He is a distinguished alumnus of IIT Roorkee, a Fellow of the Indian Chemical Society, and an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate in Business Administration by XIM University.

With over 30 years of experience at the Tata Group, Mukundan has held various responsibilities across the chemical, automotive and hospitality sectors. He served as CII President-Designate in 2025-26 and was Chairman of CII Western Region in 2013-14. He also chaired CII's Institute of Quality Advisory Council, National Committee on Environment and National Committee of Industrial Relations in 2023.

Ella was instrumental in founding Bharat Biotech in 1996. Over the past decade, she has co-founded and supported companies in veterinary sciences, agri-biotech parks, food processing, pre-clinical toxicology and research.

She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2022. She has also served as Chairperson of CII Southern Region and Founder Chairperson of CII's Indian Women's Network.

Goenka studied at St. Xavier's Collegiate School and the Wharton School. He recently served as Chairman of the CII Eastern Regional Council and is Honorary Consul of Finland in Kolkata. He was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2024.

- ANI