Auto Industry ramps up C-suite hiring amid post-pandemic sales surge

India’s automobile industry is on a hiring spree for C-suite executives from diverse consumer-facing industries to fill a talent crunch at the top level triggered by a post-pandemic sales resurgence.

There has been a sharp increase in hiring in the last 12-18 months with senior executives from FMCG, consumer durables and retail firms making the switch to carmakers like Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Company, so far reserved for engineers and technology experts.

For the past 18 months, at least one CXO has been hired by a car or two-wheeler maker, say industry experts. These include Deepika Warrier (formerly with Diageo and PepsiCo) who joined Bajaj Auto as head (marketing); Pradeep Lamba who moved from Samsung to electric two-wheeler maker Revolt Motors as VP (marketing); Saurab Kapoor (formerly OnePlus) who joined TVS Motor Company as VP (marketing & EV business) and Arnab Roy (formerly Schneider Electric) who took over as Maruti Suzuki's chief financial officer.

Ankur Damani (earlier with Le Creuset and Reebok) took over reins as country head (India & Sri Lanka) at Triumph Motorcycles, Rachna Kumar (previously Whirlpool and Coca-Cola) joined Hero MotoCorp as chief human resources officer and Adarsh Menon (formerly Flipkart & HUL) took over as global president at Zoomcar are among others who made the switch to the automotive industry in the past year.

Senior executives at headhunting firms told ET greater willingness to onboard high-cost “near-fit” talent from consumer firms at a time of rapid expansion is spurring a massive influx of mid-senior to senior executives in the auto industry, especially in roles such as sales and marketing, technology, energy transition R&D (like EV), supply chain management and enabling functions like finance, human resources, communications.

Ashutosh Khanna, partner at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles said for every company wanting to hire, the preferred option is to tap hi-performance and high-potential talent from within the industry. But when there is a limited talent pool and glut of newer entrants, they need to look for "near fits" rather than "ready fits''.

“Over the years, the consumer sector has thrown up the best talent measured on metrics of agility, processes and rigour. Perhaps the reason is that traditionally these companies have been around longer, always recruited on Day 0-1 from good management institutions and invested in their talent and leadership,” Khanna said, adding “With the surge of EV related investments, the auto sector is again falling short on "ready fits" and the consumer companies again have a ready pool to fill the gap.”

Car sales have rebounded sharply post-pandemic, compelling manufacturers to invest in fresh capacity as well as latest technologies to transition to clean mobility and add fresh talent to finetune growth strategies. Domestic sales grew nearly 9% to a record 4.23 million vehicles in FY24, cementing India’s position as the world’s third-largest passenger vehicle market. Sales are estimated to grow nearly 50% - fastest among major economies globally – from current levels to about 6 million units by the end of the decade.

EV sales too are on the rise spurring demand for personnel across functions in a fast-evolving ecosystem. Sales of electric passenger vehicles soared 90% in FY24 while those of electric two-wheelers rose 30%.

Industry stakeholders remain optimistic about the growth momentum continuing as the macroeconomic outlook remains positive. “Coupled with a good monsoon outlook, we are expecting continued growth for the industry this year as well,” Vinod Aggarwal, president at industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in an interaction earlier this month, adding long-term too prospects are promising given rising income levels and low vehicle penetration.

Growth potential is making automakers hunt for talent across sectors. Neelesh Gupta, director at Deloitte India, said, “The talent strategy is pivoting from hiring primarily from business competition to where talent availability is (i.e. talent catchment area or talent competition). This is also accelerated by an increase in willingness to pay by auto manufacturing companies for talent in the last 12-18 months, as high as 1.1x of their consumer industry counterparts (auto companies are willing to pay 10% more than a consumer company to draw talent for a role).”

Cross pollination of inter-industry talent enables adoption of best practices from other consumer facing industries.

A senior industry executive said, “Today, a motorcycle or scooter comes at almost the same price as a premium mobile phone or a television. Vehicles, phones, televisions are connected, and offer similar features. To draw attention of a premium buyer indulging in a high-ticket purchase, companies have to take into account competition not merely from another two-wheeler from a competing brand. Onboarding talent from other consumer facing sectors helps bring in fresh perspective, encourages out-of-box thinking to grow in an intensely competitive and fast-evolving market.”