Kolkata, March 14: Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Titagarh Wagons Ltd, has been elected the Chairman of CII Eastern Region for the year 2017-18, while Jagi Mangat Panda, Managing Director of Ortel Communications Ltd, has become the Deputy Chairperson. Their names were announced at the first meeting of the reconstituted Eastern Regional Council held in Kolkata.
Chowdhary’s Titagarh Group is headquartered at Kolkata, West Bengal and has four manufacturing plants in West Bengal, two in Northern India, one in France and one in Italy.
Titagarh is the largest wagon manufacturing company in India and in France with a combined capacity of producing more than 10,000 wagons per year. Titagarh is also engaged in manufacture of passenger coaches, heavy earth moving and mining equipment, specialized equipment for the Indian Armed forces, tea and tea tourism and has recently forayed into production of ships and manufacturing of agricultural tractors.
Chowdhary is a commerce graduate from Kolkata and has been the Honorary Consul of Switzerland in West Bengal since January 2011. Chowdhary is the past Chairman of the West Bengal State Council of Confederation of Indian Industries, Eastern Region and that of the CII Defence Task Force, Eastern Region.
Chowdhary has been nominated as a member of the Board of Studies of Economics under the category of ‘Representative from Industry’ – July 2015 to July 2017. Chowdhary has recently been awarded ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite” (Knight of the National Order of Merit), which is one of the highest civilian order , awarded to any foreign national by the French Republic as a recognition of his outstanding and zealous contribution to the bilateral ties between India and France in the economic area.
Jagi Mangat Panda, who is the co-founder of Ortel Communications Ltd, holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
She also holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She has been awarded and recognized as the “Young Global Leader” at the World Economic Forum in 2008. She has more than 15 years of experience in the broadband and broadcasting industry.