Jagdish Khattar ropes in Azim Premji in auto marketing venture

01 October 2008

After having steered the growth of India's largest selling carmaker Maruti, its former managing director Jagdish Khattar is launching his own venture, a pan-India multi-brand auto sales and service network, Carnation Auto India Ltd,  which will later enter the multi-brand retail market for new and pre-owned vehicles.

These multi-brand sales and service hubs are mostly targetted at new automobile manufacturers, especially those with limited market share and capacity constraints.

Earlier, former Hyundai Motors India president BVR Subbu had announced setting up a joint venture with Japanese giant Gulliver International to provide after-sales service for luxury cars and heavy commercial vehicles, Altius Autoworld, and an automobile contract-manufacturing venture, Argentum Motors.

Among the investors in Khattar's venture is IT entrepreneur and of Wipro Technologies promoter Azim Premji's $1-billion private equity fund, PremjiInvest, which is acquiring a "significant minority stake" in Carnation Auto for Rs80 crore. IFCI Ventures has also committed Rs28 crore for a minority stake.

PremjiInvest had recently acquired a 10-per cent in low-cost retailer Subhiksha for around Rs230 crore.

Khattar, chairman and managing director of Carnation Auto, has planned an investment of Rs1,000 crore in the next five years to launch service and sales network hubs in 100 locations in 65 cities in the next five years.