This could be the second strategic reshuffling of the top management in Bharti Airtel

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in less than a year, which may trigger the exit of its CEO and joint managing director Manoj Kohli. The company on Wednesday announced that deputy CEO Sanjay Kapoor would be made CEO of India and South Asia. Kohli, who has been holding this position, would head the international business group as CEO (international) and joint MD.

In March 2009, Kohli had offloaded 70,000 shares of the company for Rs 7.2 crore, triggering speculation that he would quit. After offloading of his stake, the company made certain changes in its top management by elevating Sanjay Kapoor to the post of deputy CEO. On March 12, Financial Chronicle had reported that Sanjay Kapoor would replace Kohli.

According to market analysts, with the restructuring Kohli is being sidelined and may eventually exit the company. “The first indication to the market was with Kohli offloading his entire stake last year, followed by reshuffling of the management. The next move comes today with second major reshuffling, Kohli being replaced by Kapoor,” a market analyst, who did not wish to be identified, said.

Repeated attempts to contact Kohli failed to elicit any response.

However, telecom analyst from E&Y, Prashant Singhal said, “This is a strategic move by Bharti. With urban markets in India saturated, operators continue to explore international expansion. With this restructuring the company is strictly considering market beyond Indian borders.”

The new organisational structure will be effective from April 1.

Chairman and managing director of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal in a statement, “The next phase of our journey is set to be another game changer – requiring superior thrust and focused leadership. We continue to win in the Indian telecom market, which is going through a phase of hyper competition. At the same time, we will be developing comprehensive plans for our journey to cover emerging markets beyond India and south Asia.”

“Bharti Airtel has one of the finest management teams in the country and a strong leadership pipeline. This new structure will leverage our management depth and build a strong platform for fulfilling our global vision,” added Mittal.

According to the new role offered to Kohli, he will be responsible for expanding the company’s operations beyond India and south asia region. For Kapoor he would have end-to-end responsibility of leading India and South Asia businesses of Bharti Airtel and will drive growth and business synergies in mobile services, telemedia services, enterprise services and DTH.