Jagdish Khattar, the former Managing Director of India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, passed away earlier this morning due to a cardiac arrest. Khattar was 78 years old.
An Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, Khattar had joined Maruti Suzuki in 1993 as Director Marketing and went on to become the Managing Director in 1999, first as a government nominee and then as a Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) nominee in 2002. He left Maruti Suzuki at the age of 65 on December 18, 2007. ‘
Before joining Maruti, Khattar -- an officer of the Indian Administrative Service -- served as the joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Steel, and at various key administrative positions in the Uttar Pradesh government.
After Maruti Suzuki, Khattar conceptualised and started his own venture Carnation Auto in 2008. Carnation was started to develop a multi-brand automobile sales and service network. The venture was later acquired by Mahindra First Choice.
Khattar came from a family of entrepreneurs, who had an electricity generation and supply business in Dera Ismail Khan, which is now in Pakistan. He had completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from St Stephen's College, Delhi and a law degree from Delhi University, before joining the IAS.