The Asian Age

Ford India head puts in papers

- ADITI SHAH — Reuters

Ford Motor Co's India head Anurag Mehrotra has quit the company to pursue other career opportunit­ies, days after the US automaker said it would stop making cars in the Asian nation, taking a hit of $2 billion.

Mehrotra, according to his LinkedIn profile, has spent over a decade with Ford in India across multiple roles, including marketing, sales and most recently as president and managing director.

September 30 will be Mehrotra's last day, a source with knowledge of the informatio­n told Reuters.

Mehrotra did not immediatel­y respond to a request for comment.

Ford India said in its statement it has put its director of manufactur­ing Balasundar­am Radhakrish­nan in charge of overseeing its restructur­ing in the country.

Ford's decision to stop making cars in India ends its more than two-decade long presence in a market it no longer sees as profitable. The move will affect around 4,000 employees, the company has said.

Ford is the fifth major automaker to cease vehicle manufactur­ing in India since 2017.

Despite being in India since the mid-1990s, Ford has less than 2 per cent share of the passenger vehicle market and was using about 20 per cent of its total production capacity of 440,000 cars a year across two plants.

Ford said earlier this month it plans to wind down production at its western India plant by the end of this year and at its southern India plant by the second quarter of 2022.

The announceme­nt has upset hundreds of its factory workers, some of whom protested the decision this week.

 ?? ?? Anurag Mehrotra
Anurag Mehrotra

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