Mr Innovative

Name: JAGDISH KHATTAR
Age: 65
Designation: MD
Company: Maruti Suzuki India

Almost 24 years after the first cars rolled out of Maruti’s Gurgaon plant, the recently renamed Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) overtook its parent, Suzuki Motor Corporation, in sales for the first time. Though this figure only accounts for Suzuki’s sales in Japan, the fact is that Maruti has racked up a 17.5 per cent growth in sales for the first half of the current year in a market that has been weak following interest rate increases, further cementing the market leader’s (46.5 per cent share) hold on the market. And at the forefront of Maruti’s success is Jagdish Khattar, its Managing Director.

It has been 14 years since Khattar joined the then Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) from the Ministry of Heavy Industry, but he soon resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on the advice of Maruti’s then Managing Director R.C. Bhargava who had done the same. But soon after he joined Maruti, it faced a crisis. The company, which was a joint-venture between SMC and the Government of India, was in the midst of a cold war between the partners. No new cars were being launched and then, in 1997, the car market was thrown open to competition and Maruti was caught flatfooted. Khattar had by then already taken over as Managing Director; soon after that, in 2000, Maruti declared its first-ever loss and its market share, at over 80 per cent (at its peak) in the protected Indian market, began to wilt thanks to Hyundai and Tata.

Ironically, that incident jolted the company back into action, and Maruti has been on a roll ever since. The company began to shed bad dealers and built a reputation for reliability, while regularly refreshing its product line-up. Plans were also put in place for the government’s withdrawal from Maruti, and Khattar shepherded the company through a highly successful Initial Public Offering in 2003. This IPO is generally regarded as the catalyst that sparked off the four-year bull-run that still shows no signs of dissipating.

And recently, despite a weak market, MSIL has grown, thanks to good new products such as the Swift and SX4, while continuing to dominate the small car segment. But Khattar has managed to grow the company’s sales thanks to some innovative new marketing techniques, and most importantly, by going out and meeting dealers, vendors and customers. It is not surprising, therefore, that SMC reportedly wants Khattar to continue at the helm when his term as Managing Director comes to an end in December.