Jai Menon quits Vodafone, heads back to Airtel

Mr Jai Menon is heading back to Bharti Airtel after a brief stint with Vodafone Plc. Mr Menon will have a global role as the Director of Airtel's innovation and IT in India and Africa. He had quit Bharti in September 2010 to join Vodafone as its Group Technology Strategy Director. According to sources, Mr Menon quit Vodafone due to personal reasons which required him to stay in Delhi. During his earlier stint at Airtel, Mr Menon played a key role in Bharti Airtel's growth, especially in the early part of this decade, when the company was looking to cut costs amidst falling tariffs. As Bharti's CIO, he was the architect of $800-million, 10-year deal with IBM, under which Bharti outsourced all its IT requirements to the global giant. This is the second time when Mr Menon is coming back to Airtel after quitting. In 2005, Mr Menon had quit Bharti to join rival Reliance Communications but came back to the Bharti-fold within a few days