Kalyan Jewellers India Ltd on Monday appointed former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai as the chairman and independent non-executive director on the board of the company.

The appointment will be subject to obtaining requisite regulatory and shareholders' approvals, the Thrissur, Kerala-headquartered jeweller said. TS Kalyanaraman will continue as managing director of the company.

Rai was also the former chair of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors. He has held various positions within the Indian government as well as in state governments and has been instrumental in a wide variety of reforms in India, including as chairman of the Banks Board Bureau, a body set up by the Indian government to reform public banking in India.

Rai was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in recognition of his services to the country. He has Masters degrees both in Economics as well as Public Administration from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, USA, respectively.

As chairman, Rai's appointment would make him the eighth non-executive director on the company's board, joining Salil Nair (former CEO, Shoppers Stop), Anil Nair (former CEO, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India), Kishori Udeshi (former deputy governor of the RBI), Anish Saraf (managing director, Warburg Pincus India Pvt Ltd), T.S. Anantharaman (former chairman, Catholic Syrian Bank), Mahalingam Ramaswamy (former MD, State Bank of Travancore) and Agnihotra Dakshina Murty Chavali (former ED of Indian Overseas Bank).

"Rai brings a tremendous breadth and depth of experience and we are looking forward to him adding further to the diverse experience we already have on our board today," said TS Kalyanaraman.

In 2014, Warburg Pincus invested ₹1,200 crore in Kalyan Jewellers for an undisclosed minority stake and a few years later topped up its investment with an additional ₹500 crore. Back then, it was the largest private equity investment in a jewellery company in India and also the largest in a Kerala-based company.

In 1995, two years after Kalyan Jewellers was launched, the Tata group’s Titan Company launched its jewellery business under the Tanishq brand.

Shares of Kalyan Jewellers surged marginally on Monday after the announcement.

Vinod Rai

Kalyan Jewellers appoints former CAG Vinod Rai as chairman