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Jagdish Khattar, former Maruti Suzuki MD, dies of cardiac arrest
26 April 2021
Former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, Jagdish Khattar, passed away this morning following a cardiac arrest, according to people close to him. He was 79,
A former bureaucrat, Khattar was considered as one of the most high profile leaders of the Indian automotive industry. He oversaw the transition of Maruti Udyog Ltd from a government controlled entity to the most successful Japanese automobile company in India.
Khattar, who joined the then Maruti Udyog Ltd in July 1993 as director (marketing), went on to become executive director (marketing) in the next six years. He was promoted as joint managing director in 1999, a tumultuous year for Suzuki Motor Company’s Indian venture.
Former Maruti chief Jagdish Khattar passes away A former bureaucrat, he was considered as one of the most high-profile leaders of the Indian automotive industry
Jagdish Khattar, who led Maruti Suzuki as managing director for eight years, died of cardiac arrest early this morning. He was 79.
A former bureaucrat, Khattar was considered as one of the most high-profile leaders of the Indian automotive industry, laying the foundation for Maruti’s future growth after the government began its divestment in 2002 and gradually exited its joint venture with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC).
His tenure saw Maruti establishing itself as India’s largest car company. After retiring from Maruti in October 2007, Khattar launched an entrepreneurial venture, Carnation Auto, a multi-brand automobile service network also dealing in used cars business.
AD “I don’t know the ABC of cars. I leave that part to my Japanese friends at Suzuki!” quipped Jagdish Khattar at the launch of the first Swift in 2005. What should have been taken as a casual, off-the-cuff remark had a lasting impact on me, because what Khattar, then managing director of Maruti, meant was that you didn’t need to be a quintessential car guy to successfully run India’s largest car company. Instead, Khattar was a through-and-through people’s guy, the right leader who came at the right time to lead a people’s car company. Khattar faced a trial by fire when he took over as managing director of Maruti Udyog in 1999. The company was at its most vulnerable and going through the toughest period in its history. The bitter fight between Suzuki and the Government of India (then Suzuki’s equal joint-venture partner) had been resolved in 1998, but the three-year impasse between the warring partners had resulted in a freeze on new products and capacity expans