Bajaj Auto To Undergo Organizational Restructuring

The Chakan based two-wheeler manufacturer has appointed Rakesh Sharma as its first CCO, who will overlook the product range, marketing strategies, customer focus and corporate alignment. The following managers and key business unit heads will report to the CCO.

Eric Vas will lead the Motorcycle Business Unit, Ramesh Maheshwari and Mr. KS Grihapathy will lead the Intra-city and Export Business Unit and Subash Rao will continue to lead the Auto Finance Business of Bajaj Finance.

Moving to the Pro-biking Business Unit, Amit Nandi will continue as the head, and will also manage the Husqvarna brand aside from KTM both domestically and internationally. The Urbanite Business Unit which has been recently setup will be handled by Sumeet Narang, who will shadow ex-head Amit for this financial year. This fiscal, Bajaj plans on exporting 2 million vehicles, representing about 40 per cent of our production, to over 70 countries across continents.

Here’s an official statement from Bajaj’s MD, Rajiv Bajaj.

Press Release -

RE-ORGANISING FOR THE FUTURE

‘It takes a whole village to raise a child’ – African saying.

My dear friends & colleagues,

Before I share some good news with you I would like to thank each one of you for your exemplary role in raising Bajaj Auto.

The original Bajaj Auto was a domestic leader that was raised as a low cost manufacturer of licensed technology & products, primarily scooters.

The new Bajaj Auto is a global challenger that has been raised by you to be a focused marketer of its proprietary technology & brands, primarily motorcycles.

This global ride that was announced in November 2001 with the launch of the Pulsar has swiftly brought us today to a position from which we can, in this FY 2019, hope to export 2mn vehicles representing about 40% of our production to over 70 countries across continents.

Being one of the top 2 motorcycle & 3-wheeler brands in most of these markets lends credibility to our claim of being the ‘World’s Favourite Indian’!

I thank you all once again for this rousing achievement!

Our global vantage position reveals before us a complex future combining unyielding competitive forces, intensifying regulatory requirements, and escalating disruptive technologies.

I believe that to continue to succeed we have to continue to strengthen that which lies at the core of our strategy – the alignment between a sharp & nimble front end and a deep & modular back end.

Hence to complement the offices of the ED and the CTO I believe that it is timely to constitute that of a Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to bring together all our business units in the pursuit of 4 key issues, namely–

1. Product harmonisation leading to ‘one world, one product’.
2. Marketing synergies creating ‘one brand, one position’.
3. Customer focus resulting in ‘one company, one quality’.
4. Corporate alignment facilitating ‘one stakeholder, one message’.

Towards this end I am delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Rakesh Sharma as our first CCO effective immediately!

Accordingly, I am also pleased to announce the following –

1. Mr. Eric Vas will continue to lead the Motorcycle Business Unit (MBU), reporting to the CCO.

2. Mr. Ramesh Maheshwari will continue to lead the Intra-city Business Unit (IBU), reporting to the CCO.

3. Mr. KS Grihapathy will now lead the Export Business Unit (EBU), reporting to the CCO.

4. Mr. Subash Rao will continue to lead the Auto Finance Business of Bajaj Finance (BFL-AF), reporting to the CCO.

Furthermore -

5. Mr. Amit Nandi will continue to lead the Probiking Business Unit (PBU), reporting to the CCO, and will in addition to managing India for the KTM & Husqvarna brands, also be responsible for all overseas KTM & Husqvarna markets that have been assigned to Bajaj Auto.

6. Mr. Sumeet Narang will lead the newly conceived Urbanite Business Unit (UBU), reporting to the CCO, and will be responsible for spearheading our foray into the promising world of urban mobility.
In the interest of continuity Sumeet will also be guided through FY19 by Amit who has so far been overseeing this endeavour.

Friends, please join me in heartily congratulating all of them, and in assuring them of our continued support in their new roles.

I feel very confident that each of our Business Heads shall lead us to ever greater heights in the area of their responsibility and that they shall collectively, led by Rakesh, ensure that the outstanding work that we do in design, development, engineering, purchase, and production continues to earn us and our country a worthy name and sincere goodwill worldwide.

Simultaneously, I believe that this re-organisation will permit ED to accord greater focus to our internal operations while equally enabling me to take a couple of steps back from them in order that I may address some other matters that will merit my attention into the future.

With many thanks for your attention, and good wishes,

Rajiv Bajaj

Managing Director
Friday 20th July 2018.