R. Mukundan elected CII President for 2026-27, Suchitra K. Ella is President-Designate; Shashwat Goenka takes charge as Vice President

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday elected new office-bearers for the industry body, for the year 2026-27. R Mukundan, Managing Director & CEO of Tata Chemicals, has taken over as the CII President for 2026-27; Suchitra K. Ella, Co-founder and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, has taken over as CII President-Designate for 2026-27; and Shashwat Goenka, Vice Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, has taken over as CII Vice President for 2026-27 . 

“Mukundan joined the Tata Administrative Service in 1990, after completing an MBA from FMS, Delhi University.  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, Bhubaneshwar.  With over 30 years of experience at the Tata Group, he has held various responsibilities across the chemical, automotive, and hospitality sectors of the Tata Group,” said a release from CII.   

The CII release said that she was instrumental in founding Bharat Biotech back in 1996. “In the past decade, Ella has co-founded and nurtured several companies in veterinary sciences, agri-biotech parks, food processing including pre-clinical toxicology and research institute,” the release said. 

In 2022, Ella was honoured with the Padma Bhushan for her outstanding contributions to society and industry, the release says, adding that she is also a recipient of the SAARC women's award, Colombo, and the business achievers award, SIIMA, Singapore, among others. “Ella was the Chairperson of CII Southern Region for the year 2022-23, Founder Chairperson of CII’s Indian Women’s Network from 2013-15 and Chairperson of CII Andhra Pradesh State in 2012-13,” the release said.

Goenka, an alumnus of St Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata, and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, is recognised widely for his influence and innovation, said the CII release. 

“He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (2024) and has received numerous accolades including the Hurun India Next Gen Leader of the Year (2024) and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 (2023),” the release said, adding that recently, he was recognised as a Young Leader by the France India Foundation and honoured with the One World One Family Global Leadership Award 2025. 

Goenka recently served as Chairman of the CII Eastern Region and also serves as the Honorary Consul of Finland in Kolkata, it added.