Sharad S Patil has joined the Employees Federation of India as its secretary general. Patil has headed HR functions in a number of companies for nearly three decades. His experience relates to the engineering, chemical, pharmaceutical and banking industries. He was vice-president, HR, with Parke Davis; general manager, HR, with Ciba Geigy, and head of HR with the Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai.

Patil has also been chairman of the Industrial Relations Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry and vice-chairman of the Employee Relations Committee of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India and co-chairman of the HRD & Productivity Committee of the Indian Merchant's Chamber.

Central Bank chief on MasterCard board

K C Chowdhary, chairman, Central Bank of India (CBI), has been elected to the Asia Pacific Board of Directors of MasterCard International. Chowdhary joined this group at the recent MasterCard board meeting in New Zealand. He takesover from M G Bhide, former chairman and managing director of Bank of India.

Chowdhary has held several key positions in his long banking career. These include chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank and executive director of Central Bank of India. On his new appointment, Chowdhary said, "I welcome the opportunity to influence the policies and future direction of a truly dynamic organisation in the fastest growing region for payment systems in the world."

MasterCard claims to have 45 per cent share of the market in the cards business. In India it works in partnership with 18 member banks.