Jagdish Khattar joined the Maruti Udyog as marketing director in 1993, after which he continued to work with the company for almost a decade and a half.
Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, died today due to a heart attack. Jagdish Khattar, who played an important role in the Indian automobile sector, was a part of Maruti for a decade and a half and helped to strengthen this company. An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer by profession and with more than 37 years of experience, Khattar joined the Maruti Udyog as a marketing director in 1993. After this, he continued to work with this company for 14 years.
Khattar was first appointed as a managing director of Maruti in 1999 as a government candidate and then in May 2002 as a nominee of Suzuki Motor Corporation. He continued to work with India’s largest car manufacturer till December 18, 2007 and retired when he was 65 years old. During this time, he launched several vehicles which became blockbuster hits, including the name of Maruti Suzuki Swift.
The company started to retire but failed
After retiring, he founded Carnation Auto in 2008 which was envisioned to be a multi-brand automotive sales and service facility. However, Khattar was not very successful in this and in 2018 Mahindra First Choice bought its branding rights and key assets.
Jagdish Khattar caught in loan fraud worth Rs 110 crore
In late 2019, Khattar and Carnation Auto were named by the CBI for alleged bank loan fraud and a loss of Rs 110 crore to Punjab National Bank. Searches were conducted at the premises of Khattar and Carnation, but Khattar said that the company had not done any wrong thing. Since then, no other report has been revealed in this case so far.