Auto companies in mad rush for talent hunt

• Follow

Caught in the grip of a great technological change, much of it necessitated by ecological necessities, the automobile industry is in the throes of transition and to take this giant step smoothly and successfully, Indian auto companies have joined a mad rush to hire the talent necessary for an effective switch. The Economic Times has reported that both companies operating in the traditional technology sector and electric vehicles are engaged in this rush where apart from professionals in the industry, seasoned experts from other sectors such as FMCG, consumer electronics, ITeS, and industrial design are also being invited to join the industry and take up the emerging challenge.

The talent hunt is zeroing in on CXOs and other senior-level executives.

“The automotive and EV sector is undergoing a transformational phase with many traditional automakers investing in EV technology and new-age EV companies rapidly expanding. Senior professionals with background in traditional automotive and EV sectors are high in demand,” said Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of Ciel HR Services. He added that leaders who can understand the evolving landscape and lead with innovation and agility are in demand.

There is an urgent need to help India in meeting environment protocols. The need to check carbon emissions is compelling companies to switch to electric vehicles and this is primary driving all companies in this direction.

Nearly two-thirds of top-level talent moves in the automobile industry in the past 6-12 months happened within the industry and EV companies are attracting a bulk of the talent. This is according to data compiled by recruitment agency Ciel HR. Scanning more than 500 job switches in the industry, the report mentions that the EV segment has accounted for about 40% of the talent absorption.

Shenu Agarwal, managing director of Ashok Leyland said, “The competencies and skills that are needed for the future are different from what automotive companies have today. The increasing adoption and penetration of new technologies and the changing customer demographics and hence expectations are going to have a lot of bearing on the talent the auto sector needs today to build a very different future tomorrow.”

He emphasised that a substantial part of the talent needs have to be met from related industries.

Agarwal himself is one of those seasoned pros hired by Ashok Leyland. He switched from Escorts Kubota in December 2022.

Some of the other top-level switches feature Balasundaram Radhakrishnan, who is the COO of Motherson Group but was with Ford India earlier. Head of government relations and policy at Ather Energy, Subrata Mitra was earlier with Ericsson India. Others include Sreeram Venkateswaran, president and chief business officer of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles who was earlier employed with Rivigo, Ganesh Mani, COO of Ashok Leyland who has been poached from Hyundai and Nalin Jain, ED and CFO of Skoda who was with M&M. Vijay Bhatt, senior executive vice-president of two-wheeler business at Kinetic Green used to work for Piaggio.

“The churn in top talent is spurred by disruption in the auto sector with new technology, electrification journey, software usage going up, and many new entrants in the EV space,” said Kavan Mukhtyar, partner and leader automotive at PwC India.

“The electric vehicle space is attracting a lot of senior talent from traditional automotive companies as it’s currently seen as a high-potential growth sector,” said Sulajja Firodia Motwani, chief executive officer of Kinetic Green Energy.