Tata Motors’ top exec Ranjit Yadav resigns

NEW DELHI: Ranjit Yadav, the ex-Samsung honcho hired by Tata Motors in 2012 to turn around its ailing car business, is understood to have put in his papers within three years of his joining.

Yadav, who had been appointed as the president of the car division in September 2012, was recently side-lined as the company brought in Maruti Suzuki veteran Mayank Pareek to head the domestic unit.

When contacted, a spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

Yadav was brought into Tata Motors by its former MD, late Karl Slym. But, Yadav could not arrest the slide in the company's fortunes as market share continued to slip sharply and ranking in the passenger car market fell below the third position that Tata Motors enjoyed at one time.

In September last year, Tata Motors had announced a sudden reshuffle when it shunted Yadav out of the domestic operations, posting him as the head of international car markets. This is a fairly small business for Tata Motors and many had seen the change in position as a major decline in the profile of Yadav.

Company insiders said the Tata management was not very happy with Yadav's performance, who was previously India Country Head for Samsung's Mobile & IT Businesses. Yadav had stints with Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific and Philips India also at crucial positions.

Since the demise of Slym in January last year, the company has not yet announced a replacement and the passenger car and commercial vehicles divisions are managed by two different presidents. Cyrus Mistry, chairman of Tata Sons, heads a corporate steering committee, which looks after the broader aspects of the company in the absence of an MD. The appointment of Pareek, who was the chief operating officer in-charge of sales and marketing at Maruti, showed that Mistry wanted a change in the key position.

Insiders say Yadav too was miffed with his abrupt ouster from the key position as he was instrumental in charting out the long-term revival strategy for Tata Motors along with Slym.

Tata Motors