R.C. BHARGAVA
Chairman, MARUTI SUZUKI
R.C. BHARGAVA, 86
As chairman of Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, he has seen the company sell over 1.5 million vehicles and earn a net profit of Rs 5,650 crore in 2019-20
The year was 1974. Ravindra Chandra Bhargava was working as a special assistant to then Union minister K.C. Pant and got a chance to meet the legendary V. Krishnamurthy, then chairman of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). In the meeting, Krishnamurthy put across a question: “Bhargava, why don’t you come and join me at BHEL?” Bhargava did not take much time to say ‘no’. There was, after all, no reason to leave a cushy government job. A mathematics postgraduate from Allahabad University and a 1956 IAS batch topper, Dehradun-born Bhargava was expecting more plum posts in the near future.
However, in 1978, the time came for Bhargava to return to Uttar Pradesh, from where he had come on deputation to the Centre for five years. With his children studying in Delhi, he was not keen to be in UP again. Bhargava called up Krishnamurthy to ask if the BHEL job offer made four years ago was still on. Krishnamurthy had stepped down from BHEL, but Bhargava was hired by the public sector giant as director, commercial, a post that was especially carved out for him.
But two years on, Bhargava hit a rough patch at BHEL. “The new chairman went for a restructuring at the company, abolishing the post I held, as he probably felt I would be a threat to his position in the years to come,” says Bhargava. He proceeded on leave from the electrical engineering firm.
But as luck would have it, Krishnamurthy was chosen by then prime minister Indira Gandhi to lead the Maruti auto project as vice-chairman and managing director. And he had no doubts who to hire in his team. So in 1981, Bhargava joined Maruti Udyog as director, sales and marketing. Those days, a debate raged on whether ‘generalists’ (those from the civil services) or ‘technocrats’ (those with an engineering background) were better at managing companies. “I once asked V. Krishnamurthy what made him choose me in his team even though I was not a technocrat like him. His reply was, ‘When I met you (Bhargava) at the ministry of energy, I found in you a bureaucrat who would try to find a solution to a problem and not a problem to a solution’.”
A year into Maruti, Bhargava was faced with a crucial decision: to continue with the company or return to bureaucratic positions. On the one hand—as some told him—was a ‘political project (Maruti) that would be short-lived’ and on the other, the promise of a rewarding career as a bureaucrat and ,potentially even the cabinet secretary’s post.
Bhargava, who had only a decade’s stint left as a bureaucrat, cast his bets on Maruti. Someone had also cautioned him that leaving Maruti may not go down well with Indira Gandhi, who was keen on completing her late son Sanjay Gandhi’s pet project to build an efficient and affordable indigenous car for Indians. The initial days at Maruti Udyog were challenging, says Bhargava. Apart from him, the team had just Krishnamurthy and D.S. Gupta, another former BHEL employee. Krishnamurthy gave Bhargava a free hand to identify potential foreign partners for the small car project. Bhargava and Gupta almost zeroed in on French company Renault and its Renault 18, a sedan. But the price of such a car would not have been affordable for Indians. Three other automakers
“I once asked V. Krishnamurthy what made him choose me in his team even though I was not a technocrat like him. His reply was, ‘When I met you (Bhargava) at the ministry of energy, I found in you a bureaucrat who would try to find a solution to a problem and not a problem to a solution’”
seemed to fit the bill—Germany’s Volkswagen and Daihatsu and Suzuki from Japan. While the outgoing Volkswagen chairman was not keen on collaboration and Daihatsu was eyeing a components business in India, initial talks with Suzuki did not succeed.
In January 1982, a top Suzuki official visiting the TVS Motor Company in India happened to read about Maruti’s early tie-up plans with Daihatsu in india today magazine. The official shot a fax to the then Suzuki chairman. The company didn’t want to let go of the opportunity. “Three days later, a team from Suzuki was in India to negotiate a deal,” says Bhargava. The two companies eventually signed the joint venture agreement on October 2, 1982. Just 14 months later, on December 14, 1983, Sanjay Gandhi’s 37th birthday, the Maruti 800 was launched in the Indian market.
“At that time, no one believed the car would be a success in India,” recalls Bhargava. “Some even called it a ‘toy car’.’’ Bhargava was determined to change that impression. He got Maruti teams to fan out across the country to hold exhibitions and press meets and hardsell the brand. “The response was amazing,” says Bhargava. Maruti Udyog became a profitable venture from the first year itself.
In 1985, under Krishnamurthy as Maruti Udyog chairman, Bhargava was offered the hot seat of MD—a post he held for 12 years till his retirement in 1997. Bhargava rejoined Maruti in 2003 as a director on the board. He became its chairman in 2007 when the company got listed and the government exited, creating what is now Maruti Suzuki. India’s largest car-maker sold over 1.5 million vehicles in 2019-20 and achieved a net profit of Rs 5,650 crore on revenues of Rs 71,690 crore last fiscal year.
Given his skyrocketing performance in the auto company, does Bhargava think one really needs to be a technocrat to successfully handle a manufacturing business? “One’s educational degree does not matter because such learning can become obsolete soon,” he says. “If you keep learning as you go along and apply it to your work, it will be fine.” ■
In January 1982, a top Suzuki official visiting India read about Maruti’s early tie-up plans with Daihatsu in india today magazine and informed the company’s chairman. “Three days later, a team from Suzuki was in India to negotiate a deal [with Maruti],” says Bhargava