Anant Goenka and Rajeev Anand elected as ATMA chairman and vice chairman respectively

Anant Goenka, managing director CEAT Ltd. and Rajeev Anand, chairman and managing director Goodyear India Ltd have been unanimously elected as chairman and vice chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA), the national industry body for automotive tyre sector in India.

As one of the youngest chief executives in the automotive space, Anant Goenka has been at the helm of CEAT Ltd as managing director during the last five years.

Prior to joining the RPG Group, Goenka has worked with Hindustan Unilever and Accenture in Mumbai and with Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong.

He recently led CEAT as first tyre company outside of Japan to win the Deming Prize, one of the most prestigious global quality awards in the world. He is an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS (Economics) from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Rajeev Anand has been with Goodyear India for almost 36 years now, and took on the country leadership in 2009, when the country was going through a rough economic patch due to negative global cues. He was able to turnaround the company within a year of taking charge through appropriate changes to the business model.

ATMA core group comprising conveners of five expert groups has also been reconstituted.

Nitish Bajaj, vice president - marketing, Ceat Ltd is the new convener of ATMA Industry, Public & Economic Affairs (IPEA) Group that looks at developing new markets and increasing export competitiveness of Indian tyre industry.

ATMA Supply Chain and Resources (SCR) Group that works to ensure fair and sustainable supply of raw materials to the industry will now be headed by Ashish Pandey, vice president - materials, JK Tyres and Industries Ltd.

A veteran of tyre industry in all technical matters P. K. Mohamed, chief advisor - research and technical, Apollo Tyres Ltd., has again taken over the reins of ATMA Technology, Environment, Safety & Standards (TESS) Group.

The policy formulation aspects of the industry will be taken care of by Nagaraja N, general manager - GST and Excise, MRF Ltd. as convener of ATMA Government Affairs and Legislation (GAL) Group.

In view of increased importance of skilling, a new expert group on skill development has been created with Jyotsna Aswal, GM - HR and general affairs, Yokohama India Pvt. Ltd as the convener.

Set up in 1975, ATMA is amongst the most active national industry bodies in the country representing Rs. 53000 crore (US$8 bn) automotive tyre industry.

Eleven large tyre companies comprising mix of Indian and International tyre majors and representing over 90 percent of production of tyres in India are members of the Association.

ATMA members include Apollo Tyres, Birla Tyres, Bridgestone India, Ceat, Continental India, Goodyear India, JK Tyre & Industries, Michelin, MRF, TVS Tyres and Yokohama.

ATMA is a key link between the tyre manufacturers and the government and assists in relevant policy formulation on the tyre industry.

It regularly publishes industry data and brings out status notes on various industry issues.

ATMA is governed by a managing committee which is assisted by expert groups in areas like marketing, exports, purchase of raw materials, taxation, technical and skill development.