Ford India MD to step down by September-end

Ford India has announced a leadership change soon after declaring the stoppage of local manufacturing in the country. The American auto major informed that Anurag Mehrotra, currently President and Managing Director of Ford India, will step down from his post by the end of the month.

Balasundaram Radhakrishnan (Bala), who is currently Director, Manufacturing at Ford India Pvt Ltd (FIPL) will take the role of transformation officer, the company said.

"Bala will oversee and drive the transformation efforts associated with the restructuring," a spokesperson of FIPL said adding that the company is committed to supporting customers and partners in India.

After almost three decades of its operations in the Indian market, Ford recently announced closing down its vehicle production at its two plants in the country. The only way forward for Ford in India will be the sale of imported vehicles only.

The American auto major declared that it has invested close to USD 2.5 billion at its Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Sanand (Gujarat) plants, has incurred losses of over USD 2 billion in India. The company's decision of stopping the local manufacturing is bound to impact over 4,000 employees and 150 dealer principals who operate over 300 outlets. Ford India will wind down vehicle assembly in Sanand by late-2021 and vehicle and engine manufacturing in Chennai will be cut by the first half of the next year. However, the company will continue to manufacture engines from its Sanand plant that will take the export route.

With the decision of Ford India stopping the local manufacturing, all the Ford vehicles such as the EcoSport, Figo, Endeavour, Freestyle and Aspire, which were manufactured in either of the two plants, will now be discontinued.

(With Agency Inputs)