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NEWSMAKER: RAJ JAIN
This week Raj Jain, President of Wal-Mart’s operations in India, was splashed all over the Indian media as the face of the world’s largest retailer. Jain joined the company only last May as the president of emerging markets and has since worked closely with Wal-Mart vice chairman Mike Duke to forge the 50:50 cash-and-carry joint venture with Bharti Enterprises in India. At a time when climbing the ranks without a MBA degree is next to impossible, Jain, 48, has achieved immense success. He has held three very different jobs so far. The first, after concluding his bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from Delhi School of Engineering, was with Unilever in 1980 as a management trainee. The second was with Whirlpool in 1996, post the acquisition of Kelvinator. This time, Jain had to shift to Shanghai. And though this led to major adjustments for himself and his family, Jain was most excited by the opportunity of overseeing the “integration of an acquisition”. Moving beyond the US, Jain is now in-charge of selling this “Wal-Mart is good for India” vision.