Premium, electric, and global: New CEO charts triple-engine drive for Hero Moto

Hero MotoCorp Ltd’s new chief executive officer (CEO) Harshavardhan Chitale feels premium products, scooters, electric vehicles and exports are areas with strong growth potential for India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer.

“I have traveled extensively and have now met a wide range of stakeholders, dealers, suppliers, partners and of course our team. These interactions have given me a very good insight into what makes us leaders,” Chitale said in his first speech since taking over as CEO in an interaction with analysts.

Chitale becomes the third new CEO in India’s auto industry in the last six months; A new leadership group has taken over some of the biggest companies in the space, including BMW and Hyundai Motor India, with Hardeep Singh Brar and Tarun Garg taking over as chief executives respectively.

He said in a nearly hour-long conversation with analysts on Friday, following the company’s third-quarter earnings release on Thursday. Chitale answered questions on international affairs while allowing senior executive colleagues, including Vikram Kasbekar, Ashutosh Varma, Vivek Anand and Kausalya Nandakumar, to answer questions on domestic affairs.

Also Read | Hero MotoCorp achieves highest ever quarterly revenue as GST boosts demand

Company reports record quarterly revenue ₹12,784 crore in October-December. Hero MotoCorp’s profit increased by 15% YoY ₹1,275 crore this quarter.

“We see huge headroom for growth and market share expansion in categories like scooters, premium motorcycles, global markets, EV as well as parts and accessories business,” Chitale said.

Chitale’s growth strategy will include both premiumization of the portfolio and expansion of the company in the electric vehicle category, while maintaining its market leadership in the country from Honda and TVS.

The company’s premium motorcycle lineup includes the Xpulse, Xtreme and Karizma series.

technical infrastructure

Coming from someone who doesn’t existChitale, who has an automobile background, ended his tenure after his predecessor Niranjan Gupta left abruptly in April 2025, within two years of his appointment.

Gupta’s appointment comes as part of succession planning at Hero MotoCorp, which Pawan Munjal led as managing director for over two decades since 2001. Following Gupta’s departure in April, chief technology officer Vikram Kasbekar served as interim CEO before the company narrowed down to Chitale to lead operations.

Hero MotoCorp is not the only two-wheeler company to see a new leadership group coming onto the scene. While Sudershan Venu will take over as chairman of TVS Motor Co. in 2025, Rishab Bajaj, son of Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj, is also slowly stepping in to lead the company’s charge in the electric vehicle segment.

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Venu sets its sights on expansion International premium motorcycle business TVS Norton was acquired in 2020. Rishabh is focused on making Chetak EV a success.

Chitale started his career at Tata Administrative Services, a pool of young, trained professionals recruited by the group to its companies. Within a year, he moved to tech giant Honeywell, where he spent more than 16 years. From there he moved to HCL Enterprise, where he became the CEO of HCL Infosystems Ltd.

Chitale then moved to global lighting giant Signify, which owns brands like Phillips, and spent more than a decade in various leadership roles, including vice president and CEO.

Hero MotoCorp is heading an automobile company for the first time in its career spanning more than three decades. His predecessor had not been an executive at an automobile company for long; He had worked at Unilever and Vedanta. However, Gupta spent six years as chief financial officer at Hero before being elevated to the CEO position.

international focus

“The new expansion in Africa, Latin America and Europe continues to be an opportunity for us. We also started our presence in the Philippines from a low base,” Chitale said. “The global market is a big area of focus and while we are expanding rapidly, there is still huge headroom for growth and that is what we remain focused on.”

The company’s presence in international markets and electric vehicles remains low.

“HMCL is focusing on building its presence in the executive segment through new products and continuous improvements in its outlets. Recent launches of Glamor

Also Read | Hero Moto’s second-quarter comeback sees it return to racing

“HMCL is well positioned to benefit as it has a wide network and strong presence in the 100-125cc categories. Going forward, we expect a volume/revenue CAGR of 4%/7% over FY26-28,” they added.

Last year, the company’s shares rose 36% against an 18% rise in the Nifty Auto index. On Friday, the stock gained 0.35% compared to a 0.52% decline in Nifty Auto.