My career in the automotive industry spans across 28 years. My roles encompassed various off shoots of marketing and sales. My journey began with Mahindra and Mahindra in the tractor division in 1982 and my second stint with them was in the year 1994, in their automotive division.I worked in the core sales division. I was initially involved in core field sales of tractors and in my second stint I managed the Regional Operations at Lucknow and Dealer Network in addition to Marketing. I also handled overseas assignments to develop markets for M & M in South and Central America, and thereby traveled extensively to South America and Caribbean countries.
Toyota Motor Corp : (1984-94), (1998-2003) & (2008-2010)
I have also had the privilege of working with the world class manufacturer of automobiles – Toyota. I had two stints with Toyota in their joint ventures with DCM group for light commercial vehicles and the Kirloskar group for multi purpose vehicle and passenger cars. On both occasions I joined at the inception of these projects.During my second tenure at Toyota, i was involved in germinating Sales, Marketing strategies and Dealer network. I headed the Marketing division in the role of a General Manager. To list down, my responsibilities involved product introduction and launches (Qualis, Corolla and Camry), Dealer appointments, development and establishment of Toyota systems and processes in the marketing department and dealer network.
After my detour to the earthmoving equipment industry, from where I took away great lessons in business and management, I once again joined Toyota. This time I joined Toyota at the most important phase of its existence in India. It had completed its first ten years that marked its foundation stage.My main task ahead of me was to strengthen the brand of Toyota in India. We aim to make Toyota a common name in every household in India. I head the Sales, Marketing, Dealer Expansion and Customer Service Divisions.
We have been successful in launching three variants and two completely new vehicles in the year 2009. The introduction of Toyota Fortuner, met with great success. Toyota provided its customers with diversity and the best in quality and technology last year. The array of launches in 2009 is unprecedented in Toyota’s stay at India. We have also gradually expanded our dealer network to lay the foundation for our next project. My next project is, launching the ETIOS. The introduction of Etios marks our big leap into the compact car segment, the largest segment of the Indian automobile industry. We hope that Toyota will become the most sought after brand in the near future.In order to make all of this come true we need a strong organization.In line with Toyota’s philosophy of “respect for people”, we strongly believe that people are the most valuable asset of every company. Pursuant to this thought, I ensure that the organizations growth is paralleled with the growth of each employee. The satisfaction of each employee and a healthy work environment is as important as the profitability of the company. I am responsible for nurturing the most valued asset of the company – the people.
On the whole, it has been an eventful journey and a great learning experience in terms of my wide exposure to Toyota quality, product planning, dealer management, development and successful implementation of systems and processes. With a great team beside me, together, I look forward to achieving more and much more in the years to come.
JCB India Ltd. : (2003-2008)
In the interim I moved on from the automotive industry to the leaders in the earthmoving equipment, JCB India. This was the time when the erstwhile Escorts JCB was completely taken over by JCB. We had to start anew, inculcating new principles and starting new projects. I took charge as an Executive Vice President looking into Sales, Marketing and Customer Support. To broadly pen down my functions , I was to meet the company’s objectives in various fields namely Volume Sales , Product wise Market Share, Dealer Development, Product development, Corporate PR, After Sales Service, Liaisoning with the Gov t. and financial institutions. I also undertook various activities to increase the profitability of the company. In the last five years of my tenure at JCB, we increased our revenues and profitability five folds. We successfully expanded our product range and dealer network to meet the growing market potential.Today, after its take over from Escorts, JCB India commands leadership position in the Construction Equipment industry in India and also contributes largely in the operations of JCB worldwide.
