Lalita Gupte on Nokia board

MUMBAI: Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile handset maker, on Monday proposed Lalita Gupte, former managing director of ICICI Bank, as a member on its board.

Gupte currently chairs ICICI Venture Funds Management Co Ltd. She is also on the board of Bharat Forge Ltd, Firstsource Solutions Ltd and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.

The move follows the appointment of several leading Indian corporate captains to the board of leading Fortune 500 companies. Last month, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, was nominated on the board of Alcoa, the world’s leading aluminium maker.

The Finnish telecommunications major has a major presence in India’s booming mobile telephony market. It is likely that Nokia may use Gupte’s banking expertise to good use. ICICI Bank is growing faster than its peers, powered mainly by its strong push for retail customers.

Nokia’s nomination committee has also nominated chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo to be elected to its board, along with two other new members.

In addition to Gupte, the name of Henning Kagermann, chief executive of SAP, the German computer software giant, has also been proposed as a candidate at the shareholders’ meeting on May 3, Nokia said in a statement.

Kagermann is also on the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank AG and Munich Re.

Gupte began her career in 1971 in ICICI, then a project lending institution as a trainee in the project appraisal department.