Dheeraj G. Hinduja
Chairman

Mr. Dheeraj G. Hinduja holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Economics & History from the University College, London, 1993. He has completed his Masters in Business Administration with specialization in Project Management from the Imperial College, London University, 1994.

Dheeraj is a third generation member of the Hinduja Family, who owns and runs the Hinduja Group, with diversified business interests all over the world. Employing over 50,000 people, the Hinduja Group’s portfolio includes Global Investments, Investment Banking and International Trading. He has over seventeen years of experience at strategic and leadership levels covering a variety of businesses across diverse sectors such as Automotives, Energy, Infrastructure, Finance & Banking, IT & ITES, Media and Healthcare. He has been leading the Human Resources Function for the entire Group – driving an agenda of transformation, through talent acquisition, engagement, retention and development strategies.

Currently, Dheeraj is focusing on the Group’s Indian Businesses, which have a diversified portfolio of organizations with Ashok Leyland as the flagship company. As Director of Hinduja Group India, he is setting and driving an aggressive growth agenda for all Indian entities. He is leading a corporate team to develop strategy for enhancing Group Portfolio and exploring new opportunities & markets and to oversee investments.

As Chairman of Ashok Leyland, he is particularly overseeing corporate strategy for quantum growth, M&A activities and the charter of HR issues & initiatives.

Dheeraj is active on the Board of Hinduja Foundries, the largest jobbing foundry in India. He is also on the board of Hinduja Global Solutions.

As Co-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive Limited (formerly LRLIH Ltd), Dheeraj’s focus continues to be on the expansion on the Group’s automotive activities with a special focus on acquisitions and Joint Ventures.

Dheeraj is also a non-executive Director of many Group Companies.

Vinod K. Dasari
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director

Mr Vinod K. Dasari is the Managing Director of Ashok Leyland Limited.

Vinod completed his MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a Masters in Engineering Management from McCormick School of Engineering, both from Northwestern University. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from University of Louisville.

Vinod commenced his career with the General Electric Company in 1986. After completing his MBA in 1992, he joined the Timken Company, USA in 1996, he moved to Timken’s Indian operations as Director of Manufacturing and Technology. In 1998, he was appointed Managing Director of Timken India and in 2000, he moved back to US, with Timken, as President of the Global Railroad business. In 2002, wanting to move his family to India, he joined Cummins India Limited as President, and then became its Joint Managing Director.

Vinod joined Ashok Leyland in 2005 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed Whole Time Director in 2008, followed by the current position of Managing Director in 2011.

He is currently the President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers(SIAM) and President of Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC). He serves on the Board of several subsidiaries of Ashok Leyland and is a Director of Pidilite Industries Limited.

Vinod is married to Sarita, a doctor with a specialization in Nephrology and Hypertension. They have two sons Vishal and Sanjay, aged 24 and 22.

Vinod enjoys cricket, movies, and golf.

Rajive Saharia
President
Global sales and distribution

A BE (Mechanical) from Mumbai University, Mr. Saharia joined the Company in 2007 as Executive Director-Marketing and brings with him considerable experience in the automotive sector having held senior positions in leading organizations both in India and overseas. Since May 2013, he has taken over the responsibility of the global truck business of the Company.

Anuj Kathuria
President
Global Trucks

An Engineering Graduate from BITS and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, Mr. Kathuria brings with him years of rich experience having handled a whole gamut of functions including Manufacturing, Sourcing, Mergers and Acquisitions and Program Management. He has also had an overseas stint for two years as head of global sourcing. With the Company since 2010, he headed Strategic Sourcing and was responsible for the entire supply chain activities. Currently he heads Operations comprising all Manufacturing and Strategic Sourcing & Supply Chain.

Nitin Seth
President
LCV & Defence

Leading the team of Ashok Leyland’s venture into the Light Vehicle segment with Nissan, He has also taken over the responsibility of the Defence business of the company. Mr. Seth has over two decades’ experience in the automotive industry in the realms of sales and marketing. Prior to joining Ashok Leyland, he has held key leadership positions and is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and a recipient of the Fulbright – CII Fellowship.

Seshu Bhagavathula
Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Seshu pursued his Masters in Physics and Electronics at IIT Bombay, India and University of Stuttgart, Germany, and went on to finish his Ph.D., in High Frequency Technology for space applications at the University of Stuttgart. After his Ph.D., he joined the then Daimler-Benz AG in Stuttgart and worked for almost 20 years in various functions. During his long tenure at Daimler AG, he has also been the founding Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development Center in Bangalore. Dr. Seshu Bhagavathula joined Ashok Leyland in April, 2016 as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Ashok Leyland Group. As the CTO of the group, he guides the main Ashok Leyland truck, bus and light commercial vehicle verticals alongwith other group verticals, sister companies and Joint Ventures

Gopal Mahadevan
Chief Financial Officer

Mr Gopal Mahadevan is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary with 25 years’ experience in Finance across a variety of industries. Having started his career with the TTK Group, he had stints with the Sanmar Group, Sify and Amara Raja Batteries. His immediate prior assignment was with Thermax as CFO. Mr Mahadevan has won the Best CFO Award (Capital Goods & Engineering Industry) by CNBC TV18 in 2012, the Best CFO Award (Capital Goods & Engineering Industry) by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in 2011 and the Best CFO by YES Bank Business Today in 2010 for CSR.

N. V. Balachandar
Senior Vice President
Group HR and CSR

Mr. Balachander brings with him over 20 years of rich experience in the field of HR that includes considerable stints with the Taj Group of Hotels, where he started his career and the Aditya Birla Group. Mr. Balachandar is an accomplished trainer certified by the National Training Laboratory of the US and has extensive experience in Organizational Re-structuring for business growth. Associated with many HR industry bodies, he has also been recognized as the Outstanding HR Professional for two consecutive years.

T. Venkataraman
Senior Vice President
Global Bus

T Venkataraman comes with 30 years of rich and varied experience in the automotive industry, including stints overseas. A Mechanical Engineer from REC, Kurukshetra, he did his Masters in Industrial Management from IIT, Madras. He joined Ashok Leyland in April 2010 with the Exports function, and before assuming his current role, successfully headed the Spare Parts vertical. Prior to joining the Company, he held senior management positions at Suhail Bahwan Group (Oman), Amalgamations Group and Enfield Motors. He was also a Professor at NITIE, Mumbai, for a brief period of three years and has four publications to his credit.

R Sivanesan
Senior Vice President
Quality, Sourcing & Supply Chain

A B. Tech graduate from Madras Institute of Technology and trained on Global Leadership at IIM Lucknow, Mr. Sivanesan has over 32 years of diverse experience in the automotive industry. He is proficient in Japanese TQM concepts and has undergone training at AOTS, Japan under Dr. Kano.

He joined Ashok Leyland in August 2011 and since has played a significant role in bringing out Quality Improvements across the organization. Starting Apr’16 he has also taken over the responsibility of Sourcing & Supply Chain function. He received the ‘Quality Leadership Award’ by the World Quality Congress in 2012 and is currently the National President – National Institution for Quality & Reliability.