Chairman and senior partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers India, Ramesh Rajan, stepped down from his post and Gautam Banerjee, former executive chairman of PwC Singapore has taken over as the new chairman of PwC India network of firms with immediate effect, according to an official communiqué from the Big 4 firm.

Meanwhile, PwC India officials told Financial Chronicle that Peter Harvey, senior client relationship partner and global leader for the Consumer, Industrial Products and Services Industry group, was expected to take over as the deputy chairman and Jayanta Mazumdar, audit partner was expected to take over as chairman of the partnership oversight board, PwC India, replacing Sanjay Hegde.

Harvey, incidentally, is one of two partners coordinating PwC’s global response to the current economic turmoil. In this role he has an overview of the work that PwC is doing with its clients to help them respond to the challenges they face.

Responding to queries from FC, Mike Davis, global communication director, said, “Harvey has not assumed the role of deputy chairman. However, it is planned that he will assume this role in the New Year. This is an internal role and therefore no external announcement was planned on this. Mazumdar has not “joined” anything he is a long standing partner of Price Waterhouse and is the chairman of the partner oversight committee which is an internal body.”

The official communiqué from PwC India on Monday said, “Gautam Banerjee has been appointed as chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers India network of entities (PwC India), in place of Ramesh Rajan, who stood down as chairman at the end of last week. Banerjee takes up his role with immediate effect.”

Banerjee has been a partner with PwC Singapore for 20 years and has served as executive chairman for the last six years. In April this year, Banerjee was appointed to the PwC India advisory board, it said.

“Since the Satyam fiasco came to light, Price Waterhouse India audit firms have taken significant steps to restore confidence in their work including the appointment of a new assurance leader, a new risk and quality leader, the appointment of new management at its Hyderabad office and are making a significant investment in training and taking other steps to further enhance audit quality,” the communiqué said.

Talking about Rajan’s sudden move, PwC India said, “After leading PwC India through a challenging year, Rajan decided to allow others to lead it. The other members of the PwC India leadership team continue in their roles.” Interestingly, Harvey, Banerjee and Mazumdar — all of them have Price Waterhouse legacy.