With Maruti’s Suzuki’s top Indian executive, marketing head Mayank Pareek quitting and expected to join Tata Motors as Managing Director, the top position of sales and marketing is now likely to be taken over by Shashank Srivastava, though two other top executives remain in contention.
Currently the Executive Director, international marketing for the country’s top carmaker, Srivastava had served as the number two in the sales and marketing till 2012 and has spent his entire career in the same vertical. A career Maruti executive, Srivastava had joined the company straight after an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad in the late eighties.
Industry sources in the know said that while Srivastava will be the most likely replacement, other potential candidates are Randhir Singh Kalsi, Executive Director responsible for the spare parts business, and Pankaj Narula, Executive Director for service/after sales. Kalsi, who was the National Sales head in 2008-09 has started key marketing initiatives such as the Maruti’s True Value used car sales arm, and the in-house insurance/finance business.
?Kalsi initially started his career at the factory but has had several stints in the sales arm, so he is a strong candidate. Narula, however, has remained with servicing for most of his career in Maruti,? a company official said.
Kalsi, an engineer from the Delhi College of Engineering, had joined Maruti in 1984 after a stint at the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (now known as Tata Motors). Narula, an alumnus of King’s College London, had joined Maruti in 1982 after spending a year at Austin Rover in the United Kingdom.
Several top Maruti executives told FE that Pareek’s departure is a shock to the company given his importance in terms of the successful brands like Swift and Dzire he has helped launch and the fact that he has spent about two decades at the carmaker. However, industry sources said that Pareek had been on the look out for about a year and had even been in contention for the post of General Motors India MD, before the American carmaker opted for another industry veteran and ex-Hyundai marketing head, Arvind Saxena.
?Pareek, with his huge experience, will be a big asset for Tata Motors at this critical time when it is looking to re-invent itself. They can already make the cars, but the company needs an executive who knows how to convince the Indian customer,? an industry executive said.
After a stint at public sector engineering firm BHEL, Pareek went for an MBA at IIM, Bangalore and joined Maruti right after in 1991. At a time when private sector jobs were limited, he is said to have been encouraged to join Maruti by current Chairman and former MD R C Bhargava, who had himself worked at BHEL.
