Former Maruti executive joins Tata Motors as marketing head

Srivatsa joins in place of Delna Avari who exited in April to start her own venture

In a senior level auto industry movement, a former Maruti Suzuki executive has joined Tata Motors as head of marketing for its passenger vehicle business. Vivek Srivatsa, a former product group head (marketing) at the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has joined Tata Motors, the country's sixth largest passenger vehicle company.

A Tata Motors spokesperson confirmed the development. Srivatsa joins in place of Delna Avari (former marketing head) who exited the company in April to start her own venture.

In his immediate past assignment, Srivatsa was the marketing director (Middle East) for French car maker Renault and based out of Dubai. He spent about a year in that position. Before moving with Renault in Dubai, he was the head of marketing for the French car maker's India operations between November 2010 and April 2015, according to his Lindekin profile.

Srivatsa is said to have worked with Mayank Pareek, the current president of Tata Motors' passenger vehicle business, in Maruti Suzuki. Pareek joined Tata Motors in September 2014 after spending more than two decades with Maruti Suzuki. He was chief operating officer at Maruti and headed marketing and sales functions.

Srivatsa had quit Maruti in December 2010 after spending over three years in functions like marketing, brand promotion and product development. Between Pareek and Srivatsa, another senior Maruti executive S N Burman had moved to Tata Motors. In October last year, Burman joined Tata Motors as vice president (sales). He was vice president (sales) for commercial channel, pre-owned car business, rural and institutional sales at Maruti.

Tata Motors is facing the challenge of growing its share in the domestic passenger vehicle market. It has slipped from fifth position during January-June 2015 to sixth now. Its several launches including re-launch of the Nano in May last year have not helped volumes. Models like Zest, Bolt and Nano continue to decline. The company's latest hatchback Tiago that was launched in April this year is doing about 3,000 units a month.