The Confederation of India Industry (CII) Coimbatore held its Annual Session 2024–25, recently.
At the annual session, Rajesh Doraiswamy, Joint Managing Director of Salzer Electronics Ltd, was appointed as the Chairman, and Noushad, Managing Director of Walkaroo International Pvt Ltd, was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the CII Coimbatore Zone for the year 2025–26.
Rajesh Doraiswamy- Chairman
Rajesh Doraiswamy is a graduate of Electrical Engineering and a technocrat turned industrialist. He pursued his postgraduate studies in Business Management in the USA, after completion of his Electrical Engineering under graduation at PSG Tech.
Doraiswamy took over as Managing Director of the erstwhile Salzer Controls Limited and led the company for over five years starting in 1997. Following the merger of Salzer Controls Limited with Salzer Electronics Limited, he assumed the position of Joint Managing Director at Salzer Electronics Limited, effectively acting as the CEO since 2002.
A dynamic and energetic entrepreneur, Doraiswamy oversees the Salzer group of companies, which includes the flagship Salzer Electronics Limited, a hospital, a school, and various other manufacturing industries. He operates under the guidance of his father, Doraiswamy, the promoter of the Salzer group of companies.
He is also a trustee at Salzer Trust. He was the Vice Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Coimbatore Zone for the year 2024 -25.
Noushad- Vice Chairman
The newly appointed Vice Chairman of CII Coimbatore Noushad is the Managing Director of Walkaroo International Pvt Ltd. He spearheads all growth initiatives for the group and has been instrumental in taking the organisation to its current level of growth.
He foresaw the changing trend and fashion in the footwear industry and started consistently upgrading technology and product launches with a lot of perseverance and meticulous planning.
His quest for transformational growth has seen the company adopt the latest technology in manufacturing without losing focus on the core culture of inclusiveness.
Noushad joined his family business VKC Group during his academic days itself and expanded the Hawai business to other kinds of footwear first in different brands and then consolidated into VKC Pride, Stile and Lite.
With a motto of democratizing fashion, he started Walkaroo in 2012. Today, Walkaroo Group has 15 manufacturing units spread across 7 states in India.
Noushad completed his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Govt. Engineering College, Thrissur and obtained his Master in Polymer Science and Rubber Technology from Cochin University of Science and Technology.
Noushad has been conferred the “Best Entrepreneur Award” by the Industries Department, Government of Kerala in 2004. He has also been awarded “The Entrepreneur of the Year” by TIECON in 2014 and 2022 and CMA in 2018 and 2022, “The Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2014 by COSIDICI, “Businessman of the year” in 2017 by Dhanam Magazine, Malayalee of the Year award by News18 in 2019 and CII Southern Region- Businessperson of the Year in 2022.
He is currently the National President of the Confederation of Indian Footwear Industries (CIFI), Chairman of CII Task Force on Non-Leather Footwear 2024, State council member of CII Tamil Nadu chapter, Chart Member, TIE Kerala, BoG member of NITC and Research council member of CLRI.
