Vijay Ratnaparkhe, president and managing director, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI), is tipped to be the next Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Robert Bosch, the Stuttgart-headquartered global engineering and technology company. 

Ratnaparkhe is expected to take over the new role on September 1 from Dr Elmar Pritsch, who will assume a new role within Bosch. With this move, Ratnaparkhe is set to be the first Indian professional to take up the crucial role of CIO at the 78.5 billion-euro (Rs 606,255 crore) Robert Bosch.

It is learnt that Ratnaparkhe will continue with his current role till a successor to him is finalised. Ratnaparkhe joined Bosch as Senior Vice President - Technical at RBEI in the year 2006. In 2008, he was posted in a global role at Diesel Gasoline Systems - Electronic Controls, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany, responsible for quality, processes and innovation. In his current role as the president and MD of RBEI, he has been instrumental in increasing the growth of RBEI by two-fold in around three years.

Ratnaparkhe also holds the Engineering Council Chair (2017-19), driving many initiatives in the field of engineering through NASSCOM. He holds a Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Bombay University (UDCT).

The new role given to Ratnaparkhe in the German multinational company can also be seen as an example of endorsement of the talent of Indian engineers which can be leveraged to succeed in an environment of increasingly technology-led disruptions in various sectors globally.