Bharat Sheth
Independent and Non-Executive Director
Mr. Bharat K Sheth is Deputy Chairman & Managing Director of The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited, India’s premier shipping company.
Born in 1958, in India's first family of shipping entrepreneurs, Mr. Bharat Sheth formally joined the industry in 1981, just after obtaining his Bachelor of Science (Economics) with honours from St Andrews University, Scotland. In the initial years of his career he worked in The Great Eastern Shipping Company gaining hands on experience of the business aspects of shipping. He was inducted onto the Company’s Board as an Executive Director in 1989 and became Managing Director of the Company in 1999. In August 2005, he was appointed Deputy Chairman & Managing Director.
He is also the Chairman of Greatship (India) Ltd., wholly owned subsidiary of The Great Eastern Shipping, which operates in the oil field services business and is the largest such Company in India.
Mr. Sheth was inducted on the Board of Directors of North of England P&I Association Ltd in Oct 2005 and on the Board of Steamship Mutual Association (Bermuda) Limited in Feb 2006. He is also on the board of Indian National Shipowners Association and International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited.
Through his business insight and incomparable ability of timing the markets, the Company has grown manifold and is one of the most respected shipping companies internationally. A firm believer in globalization, Mr. Sheth affirms that a Company does not become global simply by expanding its geographic presence. The objective of globalization is to become globally competitive, extract the most out of global opportunities and imbibe the capabilities to face global challenges. He has been able to change the revenue mix of the Company. From being fully India centric 5 years ago, the Company today has just 30- 35% of its revenues generating from Indian operations. Under his active leadership, Great Eastern has successfully navigated many tumultuous cycles in the last two decades.
