Mumbai, Dec 25 (IANS): IIM Ahmedabad alumni and GE Capital India's former President and CEO Anish Shah is set to play a crucial role in the future journey of the over $20-billion worth Mahindra Group.

Shah is slated to join M&M Board on April 1, 2020 as Deputy MD and Group CFO.

A year after, he will be appointed as the Managing Director and CEO on April 2, 2021.

The key role at one of India's premier business groups was announced last week under a top management succession plan as over the next 15 months, senior leaders at Mahindra & Mahindra will be retiring.

Under the plan, Group Chairman Anand Mahindra will transition to the role of Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Mahindra & Mahindra with effect from April 1, 2020.

Consequently, Pawan Goenka will be re-designated as MD and CEO with effect from April 1, 2020, till his retirement a year later, when Shah will succeed him.

Before the Mahindra Group, Shah's corporate journey led him to many global firms such as GE, Bank of America, Bain & Company and Citibank and his vast diversified experience is expected to aid him in leading the multi-sector spanning Mahindra Group.

Shah holds a Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, a Masters degree from Carnegie Mellon and has a post-graduate diploma in Management from IIM-Ahmedabad.

At present, he is the Group President (Strategy) for the Mahindra Group and a Member of the Group Executive Board, with his primary focus area being strategy development and implementation, building capabilities such as digitisation, Data Sciences and enabling synergies across Group companies.

He also leads the Risk Management and Performance Review organisations.

Prior to Mahindra Group, Shah held the position of President and CEO of GE Capital India. His career at GE spanned 14 years, during which he held several leadership positions at GE Capital's US and global units.

Besides, he has led Bank of America's US Debit Products business.

Further, as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in Boston, he worked across multiple industries, including banking, oil rigs, paper, paint, steam boilers and medical equipment.

Currently, the Mahindra Group is a $20.7 billion federation of companies. The Group enjoys a leadership position in utility vehicles, information technology, financial services and vacation ownership in India and is the world's largest tractor company, by volume.

It has a strong presence in agribusiness, aerospace, commercial vehicles, components, defence, logistics, real estate, renewable energy, speedboats and steel, amongst other businesses.

Headquartered in India, Mahindra employs over 240,000 people across 100 countries.