Rahul Bajaj, JLR’s Speth to retire

PUNE: Two leading lights of India’s automobile sector are retiring from their executive roles this year. While Bajaj Auto said its long serving chairman Rahul Bajaj will step down in April to become a non-executive director, Tata Motors said Ralf Speth, executive director and CEO at Jaguar Land Rover, will retire in September but would continue as a non-executive vice chairman at JLR.

Bajaj, 75, who has been a director of the company since April 1, 1970, was last reappointed by the board for a five-year term with effect from April 1, 2015, and his term as executive chairman is expiring on March 31, 2020, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Under his stewardship Pune-based Bajaj Auto saw its turnover grow to Rs 12,000 crore from just Rs 7.2 crore, with the firm's scooters becoming the mainstay.

In 2005, Rahul Bajaj started passing the baton of the company to son Rajiv Bajaj, who became the MD of Bajaj Auto and led it to become a global automobile player.

Speth developed JLR from a niche, UK-centric manufacturer to a respected, technological leading, glo-bal premium company, N. Chandrasekaran,
chairman at Tata Sons and JLR, said.

Tata Motors also announced its December quarter results on Thursday. It net profit stood at Rs 1,738.3 crore in Q3 compared with a record loss of Rs 26,993 crore a year ago, the company said in an exchange filing. Revenue fell 6.8 per cent to Rs 71,676 crore, and operating profit rose 20.68 per cent to Rs 7,393.2 crore.

Similarly, Bajaj Auto’s net profit jumped 15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,262 crore in Q3FY20 against Rs 1,102 crore a year ago. in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Total revenue from operations grew 2.74 per cent at Rs 7,639.66 crore.