The diversified Hinduja Group may ring in a major change at the helm of flagship firm Ashok Leyland as well as Hinduja Foundries by appointing Dheeraj Hinduja as their chairman.
Dheeraj Hinduja, son of Gopichand Hinduja, is likely to replace R J Shahaney as chairman of both Ashok Leyland and Hinduja Foundries, industry sources said.
"It is a natural progression and is likely to happen by August-end. Shahaney is 80-plus now and will retire," an inside source said.
The proposal to appoint Dheeraj, a third-generation member of the Hinduja clan, as chairman would be brought up for shareholders' approval at annual general meetings of the two firms, likely to be held between July and August, he added.
The over $25 billion Hinduja Group was started by four brothers -- Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok. With wide-ranging interests in many key fields, including automobiles, healthcare, banking, oil and information technology, the company has made its presence felt across UK, Switzerland, India and Iran.
Ashok Leyland is one of the leading commercial vehicle manufacturers in India. Its sales stood at over Rs 7,200 crore in the last financial year.
Hinduja Foundries, on the other hand, is claimed to be the largest automotive jobbing foundry in the country with a production capacity of 1,43,000 MT of grey iron casting and 3,000 MT of aluminium gravity die-casting. It clocked a revenue of about Rs 400 crore in the last fiscal.
Dheeraj, who possesses an MBA degree in project management from the Imperial College, London University, has been focusing on the group's Indian businesses.
As director of the Hinduja Group India Ltd, he had been steering an aggressive growth agenda for all Indian entities of the group. He was also responsible for the human resources functions of the entire Hinduja Group.