Rajat Kumar Gupta,the first India-born global CEO who was on the boards of top companies and institutions in India and the US,is no longer active in the corporate world. He has quit to concentrate on legal issues relating to the Wall Street insider trading scandal in which he is fighting to clear his name. Gupta,founding partner and chairman of New Silk Route Partners,a leading Asia-focused growth capital firm founded in 2006 with $1.4 billion under management,voluntarily took leave to avoid any distraction and ensure New Silk Routes continued focus on the execution of its investment strategy, New Silk Route Partners said. Gupta had a thought leadership role in his entire 34-year career in consulting,and served several leading companies on a broad set of topics related to strategy,organisation and operations. After Gupta left McKinsey,New Silk Route Partners focused on the Indian subcontinent and on other rapidly growing Asian economies. The firm has invested in Indian companies like Destimoney,KS Oils,Nectar Lifesciences,Ortel Communications Ltd,Reliance Infratel,Rolex Rings Pvt Ltd,9X Media and Ascend Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. Gupta,who has quit as chairman of the Pan IIT Alumni Board,was active in many non-profit institutions focused on education,health and development. He played a pivotal role in setting up the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad,and continued as chairman of the executive board and the governing board of ISB until the long arm of the law reached him earlier this year. India Inc. veterans give much credit for ISBs success to Gupta. Gupta also served on the board of many multinational companies like American Airlines Inc.,Genpact Ltd,Procter & Gamble and Sberbank. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed him special adviser on management reform. US investment firm Goldman Sachs brought him as an independent director in November 2006,and he continued on its board until March 2010. He left the boards of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble after the insider-trading scandal surfaced. When Gupta became the managing director (worldwide) of global consulting and management firm McKinsey in 1994,it made him the first India-born professional to gatecrash into the privileged club of CEOs in the US. He never looked back,and continued to steer McKinsey until 2003.
