Levi Strauss & Co Appointed Harmit Singh as the New Chief Financial Officer

Levi Strauss & Co, the jeans-maker appointed Harmit Singh as the new Chief Financial Officer. With this appointment, he became the second Indian in the major leadership of the company only after Chief Human Resource Officer Varun Bhatia. Harmit Singh would be taking up his role on 16 January 2013.

Hiring Harmit Singh as the new CFO of Levi Strauss & Co reflected that there is a trend of global consumer firms hiring Indians who have higher potential as well as knowledge. Singh is appointed as the CFO at such a time when there is an increased competition to US apparel brands from the rivals such as US Polo, Arvind Brands and Mustang.

About Harmit Singh

•Harmit Singh was the former CFO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation which has around 500 luxury hotels around 45 countries of the world.
•He is the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi alumni as well as a CA.
•He has around 30 years of experience which also includes 8 years at the American Express India.

About Levi Strauss & Co’s presence in India

Even after spending 18 years in India, Levi Strauss & Co has not achieved that break-even point. The regulatory filings of the company with Registrar of Companies depict that it also had the loss of 127 crore Rupees. In October 2012, the company had announced that it wanted to withdraw the brand Denizen from the country on grounds of profitability concerns.