PORTFOLIO

DRIVEN Jagdish Khattar is Chairman and Managing Director of Carnation Auto. He is the former MD of Maruti Udyog, an IAS officer and a lawyer. Suveen Sinha is the executive editor at Business Today; he has been a business journalist for nineteen years, most of those with Business Standard, Business Today and Outlook. One of the first stories that he covered was how the government and Suzuki battled in court for control over Maruti. He met an aloof-looking Jagdish Khattar at the launch of the redesigned Maruti 800 in 1997. Since then he has written several articles on Jagdish Khattar and Maruti, including a definitive cover story in 2000 about how Maruti, losing customers at a worrying pace, was going to regain lost ground. Jagdish Khattar’s initial frostiness turned into a warm friendship, culminating in this book.

PORTFOLIO USA Canada UK Ireland Australia New Zealand India South Africa China Portfolio is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com Published by Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd 4th Floor, Capital Tower 1, MG Road, Gurugram 122 002, Haryana, India

First published in Portfolio by Penguin Books India 2013 This paperback edition published 2014 Copyright © Jagdish Khattar 2013 All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same. ISBN 9780143423539 Typeset in Minion by R. Ajith Kumar, New Delhi

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To Ammi and Babaji, Whose guidance is never far whenever I need it.

Contents

Acknowledgements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

ix

Dera Ismail Khan Basti Chamoli Noida, London, Calcutta Lucknow Udyog Bhawan High Court Gurgaon Material Man The Strike Loss and Gain New Horizons Stock Market The Suzuki Way Carnation

1 15 43 61 91 115 135 167 189 201 217 241 263 285 309

Index

327

vii

Acknowledgements

My father, who became the head of a joint family at the age of sixteen, was many things to many people. To me, he would always be babaji. His love for me was seldom explicit, but it was always unconditional. Ammi, my mother, made sure I ate my karela before attacking the paneer. That’s how life’s little lessons are learnt. In spite of my twenty-eight years in the government, my wife Kiran would struggle with the secretarial hierarchy. That only shows her uncluttered mind and her acceptance of the many demands my career and I made on her. My sister Ratan and brother Rajeev, who help me carry out my responsibilities as the head of Gen Next. I thank my two sons, Gautam and Kunal, for being contrarians and for returning from the United States. Kunal also for persuading me to become an entrepreneur. Their lovely wives Puja and Sonalika make sure I do not miss not having a daughter. My sons and daughters-in-law also gave us bundles of joy: Anant, Sumair, Sia and Siddharth. The late Mr P.K. Kaul was a mentor to me during most of my IAS years. He always kept his word. But I could never have managed the journey from Basti to ix

x

Acknowledgements

Carnation without the two Bhargavas: R.K., my first boss in the IAS, taught me the importance of being in touch with events on the field; and R.C. paved my way into Maruti within a matter of hours (yes, hours, I’m not exaggerating). I must thank my friend Vishwanathan Anand for helping me fight the blues in Basti as well as for putting me in touch with Mr R.C. Bhargava. Satya Sheel, who I consider an unsung hero of recent corporate history, made sure the government and Suzuki buried the hatchet. He also ensured that the government got a fair deal while ceding the majority stakes to Suzuki. But for him, the course of Maruti would have been different. Dr K. Kumar was my guru at Maruti. His passion and commitment towards customer satisfaction is unmatched in the automotive industry. Today it is part of Maruti’s DNA, much to the envy of the rivals. The gurus I found in life and career added shine to my CV and continue to enrich me through sustained association. And why only gurus—at various stages I was fortunate to work with teams and associates who went beyond the call of duty. Whatever little success I have achieved is also of my family, mentors, well-wishers and colleagues. Sometimes I feel I got undue credit for their efforts. Finally, Suveen did not lose hope and maintained his enthusiasm for this book in spite of the long time it took to write. He made it a better book. —Jagdish Khattar My mother Nirmala and brother Navin gave me an education. Mr M.P. Menon, my first English teacher, taught me to respect the language, and Mrs Swati Das, the second, to love it. From

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Mr T.N. Ninan I learnt the importance of clarity of thought and of doing the small things right. Mr R. Sukumar demonstrated to me that serious writing need not be boring. Mr Jagdish Khattar’s parents gave him a memory which, when at play, is so vivid, it is like watching a slide show. Anish Chandy is the best books editor I know; he is also the only one I know. V.C. Shanuj unfailingly inquired about my well-being in each email even though I took days, sometimes weeks, to respond to his meticulous copy-editing. I thank them all. And I thank my wife Neha for complaining only mildly as the keyboard created a minor racket at night. —Suveen Sinha

1

Dera Ismail Khan

TWENTY-FIVE DAYS AFTER WE returned,

father died. It was 2007 and I had taken him on a journey to Dera Ismail Khan, across the border in the North-West Frontier Province. This trip also brought on a deluge of sepia-toned childhood memories, which had been hidden away in the recesses of my mind over the decades. It was a different sort of homecoming for him. And it could not have come a day too soon. Babaji (that’s what I called father) had stayed back while the rest of the family moved during the Partition of 1947—my maternal grandmother, mother, three uncles, sister and I found ourselves packed like sardines in a crowded train. He chose to confine himself to the sprawling house we called Sarai in Dera Ismail Khan. It had enough space to accommodate an office, and a bevy of buffaloes, cows and cars in its courtyard. We were among the most prominent families in the area; my grandfather, a big landlord, bore the title of Rai Bahadur. He executed many civil contracts for supplies to the army on the Afghan border and also played the role of an unofficial kingmaker in provincial politics. We owned Khattar Electric Co., the local electricity generation and distribution firm, which relied heavily on a bunch of diesel generators. My mother came from a family 3

An epic triple treat—stories from a civil servant, corporate captain and businessman Jagdish Khattar has had an astonishingly diverse career, a trained lawyer who became an IAS officer. He was an agent of change in Uttar Pradesh through his roles as district magistrate, and head of the cement and transport corporations. He also helmed India’s Tea Board in London and played a key role in the steel ministry. Elevated to the post of MD with Maruti Udyog, a firm that was on the verge of a steep decline, Khattar braved labour unions, foreign competition, and politicians as he led Maruti to a very successful IPO. Finally, at the age of sixty-five, Khattar turned entrepreneur with Carnation, India’s first multi-brand car sales and servicing network. Driven spreads across a sweeping national canvas from drought-hit villages to the Shakespearean intrigues of politicians and bureaucrats. Written with flair and liberally peppered with frank anecdotes, it is filled with lessons about leadership, friendships, jugaad-style innovation, resilience, and values. ‘A useful and entertaining biography’ OUTLOOK ‘[Driven] offers interesting tidbits on pre-liberalisation India and the way government and companies operated around that time’

Autobiography

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