Anant Goenka: All wheel drive
The managing director of tyre maker Ceat, is gearing up for full-blown disruptions in the auto sector
Anant Goenka has focussed on higher margin segments like passenger cars, two-wheelers and SUVs; Image: Mexy Xavier
In a world where banking, retail trade and telecom services are getting disrupted by new age technologies, surely a tyre maker could be somewhat insulated? Not true. Anant Goenka, Ceat’s managing director, is taking nothing for granted.
Since taking charge as managing director in 2012, Goenka has trained his eyes on some of the changes that could become full-blown disruptions soon. These could be in the form of shared driving, autonomous driving, and a shift towards electric vehicles and greener technologies in tyre manufacturing.
“A lot of energies are already being channelised towards what could emerge,” says Goenka. “There could be a change in customer profile and product requirements, considering that we could see a change in the way cars are owned [through Ola and Uber].” Hence tyres, which are largely a business-to-consumer advertised product, might undergo a change to become a business-to business product. Also, if driverless cars become a reality in future, there will be a fall in accidents and the safety of tyres may not be the feature people would want, he adds.
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Goenka cites his one-year stint at Hindustan Unilever in 2003, where he learnt the dynamics of buying and selling products in remote parts of India, and a short course in 2008 to learn total quality management (TQM) at Japanese manufacturing giants Toyota, Denzo and Hino Motors, as key learning curves. Ceat implemented TQM in 2009 and became the first tyre company in the world, outside of Japan, to win the prestigious Deming Prize in 2017.
At 36, Goenka appears to have the bearings of a successful business leader already. He has transformed the fortunes of the tyre maker, part of the RPG Group set up by his grandfather Rama Prasad Goenka in 1979, by focusing on higher margin segments such as passenger cars, two-wheelers and SUVs, and improving distribution in rural India.
