It is no doubt an acknowledgement of India’s growing importance in the elastomers’ world as well as the organisational skills of an accomplished leader. He will also serve as the president of the Far Eastern Section. Ramamurthy succeeds Mr. Daniel Compte, General Manager of Dynasol.
With Asia becoming the centre-stage of rubber production and consumption, and with the rubber-consuming industry facing severe challenges because of spiralling raw material prices, Ramamurthy has a tough task ahead. His years of expertise would come in handy in the coming months.
Of course, the new president has enviable credentials, the most important of them being his vast exposure to the Indian chemical industry and his innate administrative acumen so well known in the whole industry. Ramamurthy is a graduate in chemistry and a post-graduate in business management.
Before joining Reliance, he served at India Cements Ltd. in various capacities before becoming chief executive and operations director in 1979. Later, he was chief operating officer of Chemplast Group until he joined Reliance in 1993. At present, Ramamurthy is the sector head of the Chemicals Group, which covers a broad range of products, including aromatics, caustic soda, acrylonitrile, butadiene and synthetic rubber.
He has also been a member of the Cement Research Institute and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Chemicals and Coal. Also, he has been active in the ICMA as a member of its management committee.
The IIRSP, headquartered in Houston, is an international non-profit association, with 41 corporate members representing 20 countries which produce 90% of the world’s supply of synthetic rubber. It has regional offices in London and Tokyo.
