Zubin Irani is the new chief of CII northern region

Zubin J Irani has been elected as the new Chairman of Confederationof Indian Industry (CII), Northern Region for the year 2014-15, while Shreekant Somany has been elected as the Deputy Chairman.

Irani is President, Building & Industrial Systems (India), United Technologies Corporation. Somany is Chairman & Managing Director of Somany Ceramics Ltd.

“CII Northern Region’s theme for the year 2014-15 will be ‘Accelerating Growth in North: Facilitating Investments ….. Creating Employment’. CII’s endeavours would primarily focus on promoting a sustainable growth model for the Northern Region, which on one hand is seeing an unprecedented scale of urbanization and on the other has a very strong agriculture-based economy. We would put our efforts towards increasing the ease of doing business in the region, promoting MSME competitiveness, sustainability and technology-enabled agricultural practices,” shared Irani. Irani added that skill development, good governance and inclusivity will continue to remain as the focus of the regional work.

Irani is an alumnus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), his educational qualifications also include a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. He also serves on the boards/ executive committees of UTC India, American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) India, India Green Building Council (IGBC) and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI).

Irani also serves on the CII National Council, a past Chair for the Delhi Region and lead the Power and Water Council for the Northern Region. He is the current chair for the Energy, Co-operation Program (ECP) which has been jointly set up by the US and Indian governments to promote knowledge building and sponsor projects in the areas of renewable energy, smart grids and energy efficiency.

He has also served as Senior Managing Director of UTC’s commercial companies in India in March 2010 where he was responsible for developing and leading strategies to accelerate the growth of the businesses in India which include UTC Climate Controls and Security and Otis Elevators. Irani joined Carrier Corporations’ Asia Pacific Office,Singapore in 2005 as Director-Marketing, Product Management and Strategy. He moved to Carrier India as Managing Director in March 2006 where he was responsible for Carrier’s heating, cooling and refrigeration business segments in India.

Prior to joining Carrier, he has worked for 6 years with McKinsey and Co, a leading global consulting firm, in the US, Europe and India as an Associate Principal managing growth strategies and transformation programs for many large global Fortune 500 companies.

Shreekant Somany, the newly elected Deputy Chairman of CII NR is Chairman & Managing Director-Somany Ceramics Ltd. Somany after doing graduation in Bachelor of Science from Kolkata University, joined the family business in 1969. In the year 1994 he took charge of Somany Ceramics Ltd as the Managing Director, and later on in the year 2005, he became the Chairman & Managing Director of the company.

Today, the company has a manufacturing base to produce 19.15 million sqm of ceramic tiles annually across two plant locations in Bahadurgarh (Haryana) near Delhi and Kadi (Gujarat) near Ahmedabad. In addition to own manufacturing, Somany Ceramics Ltd also outsources about 10 million sqm of tiles per annum from domestic / international manufacturers. It currently employs around 2600 persons, with a turnover of nearly 1300 crores.  The company offers the widest range of ceramic tiles in the country and has a strong pan India sales distribution network and also exports its material to various countries the Middle East, East and Central Africa, Europe, Latin America, South Asia and South East Asia.

He has been associated with various Federations and Associations which includes Past President of the All India Glass Manufacturers Association, Past President, Confederation of Construction Products and Services, Past Chairman, Indian Council for Ceramic Tile and Sanitaryware, Past President, Rotary Club of Delhi Midtown, Co-Chairman, Cera Glass 2010 & 2012 (held at Jaipur) exhibition jointly organized by the CII, Govt of Rajasthan and the Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India.He was also Chairman of the Northern Region CII Family Business Network.