A few days after he relinquished charge as managing director at India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki Ltd, a busy-as-ever Jagdish Khattar, 65, was keen to know more about office space in Noida. In a freewheeling interview with Sunit Arora, the former bureaucrat spoke on his future plans, how he managed the edgy relationship between GoI and Suzuki, and working with the Japanese. Excerpts:
When we spoke slightly over a year ago, you were all set for retirement...
What kind of role are you looking at? Will you be connected with Maruti in any way?
Talking about your philosophy, somebody who has worked closely with you says you describe it as 'taking panga' (picking up a fight).
panga
Panga
Did your being a former bureaucrat help, particularly when there was tension between the GoI and Suzuki before your appointment as managing director?
Maruti's culture was always seen as laidback. How did you tackle that?
When you took charge in 2000, it was Maruti's worst year.
You played an active role during Maruti's IPO roadshows in 2003.
panga
Maruti has huge investment plans, to enhance capacities and become the global production hub of the new A-Star. How did you manage to overcome the dissonance with Suzuki, whose worldview was very different?
So, you must have faced resistance.
