Bharti Retail CEO Raj Jain has been appointed as the CEO of the media conglomerate Times Group, which publishes The Times of India and The Economic Times among others, reports Quartz India. Jain is expected to join the company in December this year or early January next year. He will be taking over from the current CEO Ravi Dhariwal who is stepping down in March 2015. Dhariwal has served as the Times Group CEO since 2006 and has been with the group since 2001. It's not clear what will be Dhariwal's next move. Jain had been heading the operations of Bharti Retail & Walmart now-defunct cash-and-carry joint venture Bharti Walmart for over six years before he quit in June last year. His resignation was reportedly a fallout of Walmart's internal investigations following allegations of FDI violations and bribery charges that led to the suspension of several Bharti Walmart executives. In October last year, Jain was roped in as an advisor to Bharti Enterprises, around the same time the company called off its seven-year old joint venture of wholesale stores business and Walmart acquired Bharti’s 50% stake in the joint venture. Prior to Walmart, Jain has also worked as the managing director and CEO of Whirlpool India and has had stints at Hindustan Unilever.
