PremiumKhattar oversaw Maruti's operation during one of the most challenging periods in the company's history and also successfully represented the auto industry's demands for certain changes in regulations and taxation structure in the front of the government through SIAM
Jagdish Khattar, the former managing director of Maruti Udyog (now Maruti Suzuki India Ltd) breathed his last on Monday, at the age of 78. Khattar, an Indian Administrative Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, joined Maruti as an officer on special duty (OSD) in 1992 and subsequently became its director of sales and marketing operations.
In 1999 he was promoted as the joint managing director of the company at a time when Maruti was dealing with several problems at multiple ends. Khattar’s career also mirrored the one of Maruti’s current chairman, R C Bharava, who was also an IAS officer but resigned to join Maruti permanently in the mid 1980‘s.
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Premium Khattar oversaw Maruti's operation during one of the most challenging periods in the company's history and also successfully represented the auto industry's demands for certain changes in regulations and taxation structure in the front of the government through Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
According to RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki, Khattar undertook a number of initiatives during his years at Maruti and it was quite a productive time for the company.
“He was the managing director of the company for almost 8 years and before that he was the head of marketing. Being an IAS officer, he had a smooth transition after joining Maruti. Under his watch the company also went public quite successfully and he also dealt with the labour strike as well during his time. In fact, the Manesar plant was also commissioned under him," added Bhargava.
The most significant decision taken by a Khattar during his stint as the managing director was of establishing Maruti’s own insurance, used cars, accessories and other businesses, which are all successful ventures in their own right at present and has also managed to provide a separate source of revenues for dealers.
According to people with experience of working with him, the idea came from a paper published by Ford Motor Co which indicated that the value paid by a customer while buying a car is just 33% of total cost born by him or her during the entire lifecycle of the product.
Khattar also had his disagreements with the top management of Suzuki Motor Corp- the parent of Maruti – on a number of issues which included product development, recruitments and broader strategy of the company.
“One day, he walked into the sales and marketing area of the old Maruti office and summoned all the top executives in the department. He showed us the paper from Ford and said that Maruti should also try to strive towards engaging with the customer while they own the vehicle. That was the germination of the project and then AT Kearney was hired. Mr R S Kalsi who was at the plant that time headed the project," said Avik Chatopadhyay.
“I came back to Maruti again on his insistence," he added.
Khattar retired from Maruti in 2007 and later started his own venture called Carnation Auto, a multi brand automobile service platform. His stint as an entrepreneur though ended on a sour note as the project failed and investigative authorities like CBI had booked him for alleged financial losses. Khattar though maintained that carnation was a genuine business failure.
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