PwC India today announced that Asha Ramanathan, a veteran in the firm, will be its new chief operating officer (COO) effective 1 October 2022. Satyavati Berera (Satya), who has been the COO for the last seven years, retires in March 2023. 

Also, Gayathri Parathasarathy (Gai), a well-known industry name, joins the firm to lead its financial services sector. She joins PwC India from IBM Services, where in her most recent role she was the Asia Pacific financial services leader.

Ramanathan is a qualified chartered accountant and became a partner in 2009. She specialises in the pharma, industrial, consumer products and service sectors, having advised several large global clients. 

She has also held the prestigious position of the firm’s diversity and inclusion leader from 2015-2017 and introduced many reforms to make PwC India a better place to work, the company said in a statement.

“It is a great honour for me to be entrusted with this challenging role. These are interesting times for us, looking at the scale at which we are growing, our confidence in the future which is prominent in our new strategy that was launched last year and our rich legacy of 150 years. I look forward to playing an enabling role in our collective vision with a focus on ease of doing business for our people and our clients,” said Ramanathan on her elevation.

Parathasarathy, who comes with over 30 years of experience in the financial services sector, has been the lead partner on strategy and transformation projects for a number of large financial institutions. In the past she has worked with KPMG, Accenture and Oracle, among others. 

“I am very excited to be joining PwC India and look forward to working with fellow partners and leaders to strengthen our presence and deepen our capabilities in this dynamic market,” said Parathasarathy on her appointment.

Sanjeev Krishan, chairman, PwC in India said Ramanathan’s three decades of varied experience in the firm will be valuable as she takes over the operations mantle from Satya, who has been instrumental in making the firm a strong technology-enabled internal organisation with presence in 14 cities across the country and delivering quality services to the firm’s 10K-plus clients. 

“Very pleased that we have two very strong women leaders take on critical roles and on behalf of the firm’s leadership, I welcome them onboard..  We thank Satya for her contribution to the firm over the last four decades,” he said. 

“Gayathri, on the other hand, has already held several leadership positions and brings in a world of experience including strategy, governance, large multi-jurisdictional and complex programmes, sourcing and offshoring projects. Financial services is a priority service area for us and I am confident that with our strong in-house capabilities and Gai’s expertise in leading transformation projects, we will be able to deliver enhanced value to our clients,” Krishan added.