M&M rejigs top brass in auto, farm divisions; Rajan Wadhera to step down

Days after announcing major reshuffle in top management, auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Monday announced further changes in its group corporate office and automotive and farm businesses, sectors, effective from April 1, 2020. Rajan Wadhera will retire and step down from his executive role as president auto sector, the company said in an exchange filing.

On Friday, the company had announced that a major management reshuffle under which Anand Mahindra, the group chairman, would be stepping down from the post on 1 April, 2020. He will be the non-executive chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. The company's managing director, Pawan Kumar Goenka, will have additional responsibilities as the new chief executive officer (CEO) for a year, from 1 April, 2020 till the end of his current term i.e. up to 11 November, 2020. Anish Shah will succeed Pawan Goenka to the role of MD and CEO. Currently, Anish Shah is the group president (strategy) for the Mahindra Group and a member of the group executive board.

The company, which will see several senior leaders retiring in the next 15 months, has been grooming young leaders to steer the company to the next phase of growth.

Also Read: Mahindra management reshuffle: Anish Shah to succeed Pawan Goenka as MD & CEO in 2021

Over the next 15 months, Rajeev Dubey, group president (HR & Corporate Services) and CEO (After-Market Sector), will retire on 1 April 2020 on reaching the age of superannuation. Consequent to his retirement, Ruzbeh Irani will head Group HR & Communications, which includes CSR, CIS and Ethics. V. S. Parthasarathy will head the mobility services sector, which is a new sector being created by combining the after-market sector, Mahindra Logistics and Auto Mobility Services.

In its Group Corporate Office (GCO), S Durgashankar will be assigned an "enhanced role" as Group Controller of Finance and Accounts, M&M said in a regulatory filing. "He will work closely with the CFOs of all group businesses to ensure appropriate controls and governance and will continue to oversee Secretarial. He will report to Anish Shah," M&M said a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.

In auto and farm sectors (AFS), Rajan Wadhera will retire and step down from his executive role as president auto sector. Hemant Sikka will head the farm equipment sector, the company said.Also Read: Anand Mahindra to step down next year; to become non-executive chairman of M&M

"Veejay Nakra will be appointed CEO of auto division. He will have operating responsibility for PV and entire CV business with P&L accountability, except for the product development process," it said in the exchange filing.

R Velusamy will be appointed Chief of Global Product Development (Automotive). Vinod Sahay will be appointed as Chief Purchase Officer of AFS.

Sikka, Nakra, Velusamy and Sahay will report to Rajesh Jejurikar, who will join the M&M Board as executive director (Auto and Farm Sectors) from 1 April, 2020.

Meanwhile, Rajeev Goyal will be appointed as CFO of AFS. He will have dual reporting to Rajesh Jejurikar and Durgashankar. Rajeshwar Tripathi will be the Chief Human Resources Officer for AFS. He will have dual reporting to Rajesh Jejurikar and Ruzbeh Irani.

The Agri-business headed by Ashok Sharma will move from AFS and report to S P Shukla, who will also continue to head the aerospace, defence and steel sector, reporting to Anish Shah.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar