Windlass, who will be based in New Delhi, will head the company's cellular and basic services businesses while also spearheading investments and initi-atives.

While Hutchison Max is yet to decide on a replacement for Windlass, a Max India press release said that chief operating officer Sandip Das will act as managing director until further notice. "It is now for Hutchison Max to decide on a new managing director," a Max India spokesperson said.

Windlass' decision to leave the Max fold comes a few months after the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa took a controlling stake in HMTL in a Rs 561-crore deal with Max India.

It is understood that Windlass was responsible for the higher valuation of HMTL which culminated in the mega deal.

Windlass, however, reiterated that his decision to join Reliance Telecomwas not based on Hutchison taking a controlling stake in HMTL. "My decision is independent of anything that happens in HMTL," he said.

His move comes after former Tata Telecom chief executive Vijay Gupta and Swiss Telecom executive Prakash Shukla joined Reliance Telecom.

In a press release, Reliance Industries managing director Anil Ambani stated, "It is a pleasure to welcome a professional with a proven track-record like Ashwani Windlass to the group."

Forty-two-year-old Windlass is largely credited for the Max group's foray into electronics and telecom with the setting up of Max Electronics -- a value-added distribution company. As HTML founding director, he played a key role in bringing together the joint venture partnership between Hutchison Telecom and Max India in late 1991.

Windlass, a major in finance from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, was also responsible for setting up HMTL's cellular network in Mumbai and paging networks in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune,Baroda, Chandigarh and Ludhiana.

Under him, HMTL formed the first roaming alliance, World 1 Network, which involved nine cellular operators in the country. He also served as the chairman of World 1 for two years. "Windlass leaves a company which is strong in terms of stable and professional management team and has accomplished excellent processes," stated the Max India press release.

HMTL is one of the cellular operators in Mumbai and provides paging services in seven cities. Reliance Telecom, a joint venture with Nynex of the US, holds the cellular licence for Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, north-east and Assam, and holds the basic service licence for Gujarat.