Puneet Kaura

Puneet Kaura is the Managing Director & CEO at Samtel Avionics Limited, a key Indian player in high- technology products for avionics and military applications, rugged displays, cockpit displays and equipment for military and commercial platforms. Puneet is a Management graduate from Bentley College in the United States, and has worked with Corning Incorporated, USA and Samtel Electron Devices, Germany before moving to India to build and grow Samtel's avionics and defence business. Samtel's joint venture with India's major aircraft maker, HAL marks a new landmark in this business and Puneet has played a very responsible role in developing this JV. Puneet is also a core member of the team that worked on setting up Samtel's joint venture with Thales - a world leader in the field of defence, and he is now concentrating on growing this JV into a leading manufacturer of modern avionics systems and opto-electronics. He has put a great deal of energy into building Samtel's core competence to compete on a global scale, and today Samtel is at various levels and kinds of partnerships with at least 5 of the top 10 global players in the Aerospace and Defence industry. Owing to his initiatives in driving Samtel to contribute towards the 'Make in India' program of the Indian govt., he was recently hand-picked by Niti Aayog for Prime Minister's Champions of Change ‘think-tank'. He is now a part of a permanent team of Young CEOs who will share ideas with the Prime Minister and Niti Aayog to lead the transformation of India by the year 2022. Under his leadership, Samtel has been awarded with Frost & Sullivan Hot Investment Opportunity Award 2009, and Indian Innovation Award 2010 by a leading Indian organisation. Puneet has also been recognised by Aviation Week magazine as one of World's Top 40 leaders under the age of 40 in the global aerospace industry.