Tata Motors sees a top-tier exodus ahead of demerger

Mint is aware of at least half a dozen such departures since August, all in the ranks of team heads or above. 

These include Biswaroop Mukherjee, who was head of human resources for the commercial vehicles business unit; Anurag Mehrotra, vice-president for international business and strategy; Vinay Pant, chief marketing officer–passenger vehicles; Vinay Pathak, head of product planning and program management–commercial vehicles; Sampada Inamdar, head of training and development; and Devendra Katiyar, chief safety officer.

Ashish Tandon, senior general manager (small commercial vehicles), also quit during this period.

Two of these executives have joined Tata Motors’ rivals. Mehrotra now heads JSW MG Motor India as its managing director and Tandon is global head–customer excellence at Euler Motors. Mukherjee has since joined Aker Solutions as vice president–people and transformation.

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Tata Motors, which announced the business split in March 2024, is undergoing a talent mapping exercise that will bifurcate top executives handling common business operations and allocate them to either company. It has appointed executive search firm Egon Zehnder and consultants Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey for talent-mapping and chalking out the finer details of the split.

This exercise left some of senior executives unhappy with their new posts, which could be the reason for some of the exits, a consultant working with Tata Motors said on condition of anonymity.

“After the split was announced, if you were holding a senior post for both businesses, now you will hold for either one. The team size and the portfolio will get reduced. Hence, some of the exits,” this executive said.

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A Tata Motors spokesperson defended the designation and role changes ahead of the split.

“Transitions are part of the natural evolution of a large organization like Tata Motors that strives to grow and adapt in a dynamic business environment. Tata Motors follows a performance-oriented, results-driven culture,” the spokesperson said in an email.

While some of the recent exits at Tata Motors were driven by personal career choices, the company also “respectfully parts ways with some in the best interests of both the individual and the company,” the spokesperson said, adding that the departures present the company an opportunity to bring in fresh talent with diverse experiences and perspectives.

Egon Zehnder and McKinsey did not respond to Mint’s queries. Boston Consulting Group declined to comment.

Tata Motors’ shares closed 1.33% higher at ₹689.9 apiece on the BSE on Thursday. The stock has lost over 30% since the demerger was first announced on 4 March 2024.

The carveout

The appointed date for the demerger is 1 July 2025. For many shared business functions, teams have already been reorganized on the lines of the demerger and team members have already started focussing on one of the two businesses, said two employees in the know, declining to be identified. 

However, for some of the shared functions, employees continue to work for both the units, awaiting further instructions on which company they will be a part of. The decisions are expected to be finalized soon ahead of the 1 July deadline.

Tata Motors had appointed different chief executive officers for its CV and PV divisions as early as 2021 and then carved out its PV unit into a subsidiary in 2022. The ongoing demerger was a logical progression of this restructuring, the company said last March when it first announced its plans.

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As part of this exercise, the CV business will be demerged into a separate company. The PV business, which is currently housed in a subsidiary company, will be merged back into the parent company Tata Motors. 

The PV business will house the company’s electric vehicles (EV) unit as well as its British luxury car unit Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

The businesses will then be renamed – the CV business will be called Tata Motors Ltd, while the PV, EV and JLR businesses together will be under Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd.

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