The Board of the Retailers Association of India (RAI) has appointed Bijou Kurien, Independent Consultant and Member - Strategic Advisory Board, L Catterton Asia (a part of the LVMH Group), as the new Chairman.

Meanwhile, Kulin Lalbhai, ED, Arvind Ltd, is taking over as the Vice-Chairman of RAI.

Over the past 15 years since inception, BS Nagesh had led RAI as the founding chairman. In a statement, Nagesh said, “We have decided to hand over the reins of RAI to new hands. This combination of Bijou as the Chairman, Kulin as the Vice-Chairman and Kumar Rajagopalan as the CEO will add tremendously to the work already done in the industry during Covid-19 times. With Kulin joining, we get a young leader with omni experience who represents the second generation of businesses.”

An alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur, Kurien has been associated with the Indian retail industry for over 35 years with stints at various companies including HUL, Titan Industries and Reliance Retail. Lalbhai serves as Director at Arvind Fashions and is also the Executive Director at Arvind Ltd, where he drives new initiatives at the consumer businesses of the group, the statement added.