Siddhartha Lal

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Siddhartha Lal
Siddhartha Lal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Eicher Motors, India, at the World Economic Forum on India 2012.jpg
Lal in 2012
BornOctober 1973 (age 51)
NationalityIndian
Education The Doon School
Alma mater St. Stephen's College, Delhi
Cranfield University (PgD)
University of Leeds (MSc) [1]
OccupationBusinessman
Years active1999–
Known forRevival of Royal Enfield [2]
TitleCEO & MD, Eicher Motors
Chairman & MD, VE Commercial Vehicles Limited [1] [3]
SpouseNatasha Lal [4] [5]
Father Vikram Lal
Website Siddhartha Lal

Siddhartha Vikram Lal (born October 1973) is an Indian businessman. The son of businessman Vikram Lal, Lal is a former chief executive officer (CEO) and the current managing director (MD) of Eicher Motors, a director of Eicher Goodearth and chairman and MD of VE Commercial Vehicles. [1] Lal is noted for the turnaround and revival of Royal Enfield. [2] [6]

Contents

Early life and education

Siddhartha Vikram Lal is the son of Vikram Lal, who was the founder and chief executive officer of Eicher Motors. [7] He has a sister, Simran Lal. [8] Like his father, Siddhartha attended The Doon School for his secondary education. After completing his secondary education in 1994, Lal attended St. Stephen's College of the University of Delhi for a bachelor's degree in economics. [9] Between 1996 and 1998, he attained a postgraduate diploma in mechanical engineering from Cranfield University, and a master's degree in automotive engineering from the University of Leeds in England. [1] [10]

Career

Lal, after completing his education, started working with MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG. Before he joined Eicher Motors, his father, Vikram, sent him to Europe to interact with Royal Enfield motorcycle importers in the continent. [11] Lal joined Eicher Motors in 1999, working in various capacities in the Eicher tractor division and he also created the company's geographic information system and maps division. [9]

Lal then became CEO of Royal Enfield in 2000 (at the age of 26). [12] [9] Initially, Lal's responsibility as CEO of Royal Enfield, which was on the verge of being sold due to the company's problems, was to fix the unit's products, financial and operational issues. [9] [11] From 2000 to 2004, he worked out of Royal Enfield's headquarters in Chennai, introducing cost-cutting measures and product upgrades. [13] [14] "Honestly, at age 26, it seemed a fun thing to do. I could eat, sleep, ride and talk motorcycles," Lal said in a 2015 interview. [15] To solve the issues in Royal Enfield, Lal brought in a new client servicing team to address the concerns of motorcycle dealers and he used his engineering knowledge to improve the motorcycle engines, which resulted in the company increasing its sales. [11]

In January 2004, Lal was appointed as the chief operating officer (COO) of Eicher Motors. [15] In 2005, he sold 13 of the 15 businesses of Eicher Motors and decided to allocate resources to Royal Enfield and the trucks business. [12] Lal took this decision as he thought that in these two businesses, his business could become market leaders. [12] In May 2006, Lal took over as the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) of Eicher Motors. [1] [10] In 2008, he transferred Eicher Motors' truck business was transferred to VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), which is a joint venture with Volvo, a Swedish automotive company. [12] [16] Lal's reason for forming a joint venture with Volvo was to become one of the largest competitors in India's truck market. [16] He also convinced Volvo to make its 160 hp to 300 hp engines for light and medium trucks through the their joint venture by convincing Volvo of using the low engineering costs in India to help with the returns from the exports of the engines. [17] Later, Lal also secured a concession from Volvo, allowing Eicher Motors to use some of the engines that VECV was manufacturing for Volvo in Eicher Motors' heavy-duty vehicles in India. [17] This was significant because Eicher Motors had faced challenges in developing its own engines for use in the company's trucks. [17] In 2019, Lal stepped down as the CEO of Royal Enfield. [18]

In August 2021, during the annual general meeting of Eicher Motors, shareholders of the company rejected Lal's reappointment as MD due to disagreements about an increase in his remuneration. [19] In September 2021, Eicher Motors once again approached shareholders to reappoint Lal as MD and with a revised remuneration plan. [20] In October 2021, the company's shareholders approved Lal’s reappointment as MD and his remuneration package for the next 5 years. [21]

Positions held

PositionCompany
MDEicher Motors
DirectorEicher Goodearth Limited
ChairmanVE Commercial Vehicles
DirectorEicher Goodearth Holdings

Personal life

Siddhartha Lal relocated from Delhi [22] to London, [14] in August 2015, in order to be close to Royal Enfield's new R&D centre in Leicestershire. [23] "We are in the process of developing engines for the international markets and lots of developmental work is happening in the UK. It is for that I have decided to move to the UK for one year," he said. [24] [25]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Enfield (England)</span> Brand name used by a European automobile company

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Siddhartha Lal PGDME, MSc (Automotive Engg.)". Bloomberg Businessweek . Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 "The man who turned around Royal Enfield". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Siddhartha Lal, Eicher Motors Ltd". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Ramani, Priya (10 September 2010). "Siddhartha Lal | The Bulletproof man". Livemint. Mint. Archived from the original on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Sood, Varun; Chopra, Ritika; Thakkar, Ketan (21 April 2014). "AAP's leftist leanings fail to dissuade India Inc; donations pour in for Arvind Kejriwal". The Economic Times . Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015. AAP's last biggest donation came from Natasha Lal, wife of Eicher Group head Siddhartha Lal, who gave Rs 50 lakh last week.
  6. ↑ Ramani, Priya (10 September 2010). "The Bulletproof man". Mint. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Blankfeld, Keren; Chung, Grace; Doebele, Justin; Flannery, Russell; Jetley, Neerja Pawha; Karmali, Naazneen (7 October 2015). "Lal family". Forbes Asia . Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015. Lal family on Forbes Lists #40 Asia's Richest Families (2015)
  8. ↑ Hussain, Shabana (21 October 2014). "The homemakers: Leading home décor brand Good Earth is a labour of love". Forbes India . Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Keshadev, V (5 August 2021). ""The most difficult thing in business and in life is the ability to say, 'no, this doesn't work'"". Outlook Business. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
  10. 1 2 "Lal, Siddhartha". Reuters India. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Bhatia, Vinita (1 December 2022). "Siddhartha Lal: An Indian Powerhouse On Two Wheels". Outlook Business. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Modi, Ajay (10 February 2016). "Firing on all cylinders". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
  13. ↑ Sinha, Vivek (28 September 2002). "Enfield strikes at Lightning, to fly Thunderbird". The Economic Times . Times News Network. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015. Manufacturing at the Jaipur plant, which has a capacity to produce 13,000 mobikes, is under suspension and according to the plan it is expected to resume operations as soon as the Chennai plant achieves full capacity utilisation.
  14. 1 2 Madhavan, N. (16 October 2015). "Siddhartha Lal: The braveheart". Forbes India . Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015. He has unleashed a burst of activity in London to leverage its British heritage and design products (Royal Enfield has a development centre there) that appeal to the global audience.
  15. 1 2 Karmali, Naazneen (July 2015). "India's Vintage Motorcycle Royal Enfield Is On Full Throttle". Forbes Asia. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015. In 2004 he took charge of running the group, which was then a collective of several businesses. He sold all but two, including the legacy tractor unit, to focus on motorcycles and trucks.
  16. 1 2 Philip, Lijee (9 September 2015). "Meet Siddhartha Lal, the man who turned around Royal Enfield into Eicher Motors' profit engine". The Economic Times. ISSN   0013-0389. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  17. 1 2 3 Surendar, T. (5 November 2011). "The talented Mr. Lal". Fortune India. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  18. ↑ Banerji, Sumant (11 December 2012). "Bullet Raja". Business Today. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  19. ↑ Gopalan, Krishna (20 August 2021). "Shareholders' activism: Why the Siddhartha Lal episode is a wake up call for all companies". Business Today. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  20. ↑ Baggonkar, Swaraj (27 September 2021). "Siddhartha Lal's pay: Eicher Motors approaches shareholders again". Moneycontrol. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  21. ↑ Srivastava, Vikas (26 October 2021). "Eicher Motors shareholders approve Siddhartha Lal's reappointment, remuneration for next 5 years". Financial Express. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  22. ↑ Das, Biprorshee (7 May 2015). "Royal Enfield customers have a different take on life, says CEO Siddhartha Lal". The Economic Times . Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  23. ↑ Philip, Lijee (24 September 2015). "Royal Enfield's Siddhartha Lal seeks to replicate India's success in overseas markets". ET Auto. The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 9 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015. The shift was surprising because Eicher, which owns the famous motorbike maker Royal Enfield, has a manufacturing base in Chennai and headquarters in Gurgaon.
  24. ↑ "Why Eicher Motors Siddhartha Lal Is Moving to UK". NDTV Profit . Press Trust of India. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  25. ↑ "Royal Enfield's Siddhartha Lal will move to UK to strengthen bike business". Daily News and Analysis . Press Trust of India. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
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