Now or Never!

A cheerful Kaher Kazem, President and Managing Director, General Motors India, defies the challenging scenario as he endeavours for a magical turnaround for his organisation in the Indian market.

- Niranjan Mudholkar

It’s been about 20 months since General Motor’s Global CEO Mary Barra made an announcement that the Company will put US $1 billion (about Rs6,400 crore) in new investment in India. The investment plan also included launching of 10 new domestically manufactured vehicles. However, the journey towards achieving a complete turnaround in the Indian market has remained an uphill task for the Company and the investment plans have been put on hold as of now.

The man in charge of things for General Motors (GM) in this country, Kaher Kazem, President and Managing Director for the Indian operations, remains realistic and positive. “We have put on hold these investments while we conduct a full review of our future product portfolio, to ensure we are operating with the right products in the right segments. As with any investment GM makes across the globe, we need to ensure it is positioned to generate appropriate shareholder return.”

And why do we call him positive? “Meanwhile, we have confirmed that the new Chevrolet Beat and the Chevrolet Essentia will go into production in 2017,” he shares. Of course, he also adds that GM continues to believe in the potential of the Indian market for Chevrolet. “However, if GM is going to make significant investments, we need to be certain that they will generate significant shareholder value,” he reasserts.

It’s been one year since Kaher has taken charge at General Motors India. So how’s been the journey for him on the personal level? “It has been a great journey for me all through these years in General Motors and I have been enjoying working in various countries at various levels. My role at General Motors in India is to lead our team to grow with a focus on sustainable business performance. We continue to learn and evolve our business strategy to ensure GM India can support GM’s global business objectives,” he says.