P. Balaji is the Director-Regulatory, External Affairs and CSR of Vodafone India.

An Executive Committee member at Vodafone India, Balaji leads the company’s Regulatory, Public Policy & Government Relations activities. He spearheads the External Affairs function overseeing Corporate Communications, Reputation Management. He administers the Corporate Social Responsibility and the Vodafone Foundation in India. He leads a team focusing on advocacy for industry issues.

Prior to Vodafone, Balaji was in the mobile devices industry as Managing Director of Nokia and Sony Mobile Communications, India. He has extensive experience in telecom technology/equipment sector. He held leadership roles in Ericsson India, was on the executive board of India operations and handled diverse roles in Marketing, Strategy, Sales, Technical Solutions, Communications, Corporate affairs and Business Development. He made significant contributions to the global strategy formulation for the group.

Balaji has over 24 years of experience in Telecom & IT, in diverse functions including sales, marketing, strategy, operations, and product management. He has been associated with start-up and turn-around ventures of TATA group, AT&T, Ericsson, Lucent and Sony during this period and has held Senior Leadership positions in these companies.

Balaji was the Chairman of several taskforces/expert groups set up by the Department of Telecommunications and Planning Commission on policy matters. He was a member of National Council of apex industry chambers like CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM and Co-Chairman of their telecom national sub-committees. He is the former President of Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) and Northern Region Chairman of the Telecom Export promotion council.

An Electronics Engineer from IIT Roorkee, Balaji did his MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad in Marketing, Finance and Strategy. He was selected for the leadership program of Tata group and worked closely with senior leaders in the Tata group.

He loves travelling, tennis, singing and watching sports and movies.