Aniket PujariHarshavardhan Chitale, the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Hero MotoCorp Ltd, considers premium products, scooters, electric vehicles and exports are areas of strong growth potential for India’s largest two-wheeler maker.
“I have travelled extensively and now met with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, dealers, suppliers, partners, and of course, our team. These interactions have given me very good insight into what makes us the leader,” Chitale said in his first remarks since taking over as chief executive in an interaction with analysts.
Chitale is the third new CEO in India’s automobile industry over the last six months as a new crop of leadership takes the helm at some of the largest companies in the space, including BMW and Hyundai Motor India, which saw Hardeep Singh Brar and Tarun Garg take over as chief executives, respectively.
In a nearly hour-long chat with analysts on Friday after the company’s third-quarter earnings were announced Thursday, Chitale fielded questions on the international business, while letting his senior management colleagues, including Vikram Kasbekar, Ashutosh Varma, Vivek Anand, and Kausalya Nandakumar, take domestic business-related queries.
The company reported a record quarterly revenue of ₹12,784 crore in October-December. Hero MotoCorp’s profit rose 15% year-on-year to ₹1,275 crore in the quarter.
“We see a big headroom for growth and market share expansion in categories like scooters, in premium motorcycles, in global markets, in EV, and also parts and accessories business,” Chitale said.
Chitale’s growth strategy will include both premiumization of portfolio as well as expansion of the company in the electric vehicle category as it defends its market leadership in the country from Honda and TVS.
The company’s premium motorcycle range includes the Xpulse, Xtreme, and Karizma series.
Tech background
Coming from a non-automobile background, Chitale has his task cut out after the abrupt departure of his predecessor, Niranjan Gupta, in April 2025, within two years of his appointment.
Gupta’s appointment came as part of succession planning at Hero MotoCorp, which was led by Pawan Munjal as chief executive for over two decades since 2001. After Gupta’s departure in April, chief technology officer Vikram Kasbekar acted as interim CEO before the company narrowed down on Chitale to lead the operations.
Hero MotoCorp is not the only two-wheeler company which is seeing a new crop of leadership taking the stage. While Sudershan Venu took over the chairman of TVS Motor Co. in 2025, Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj’s son Rishab Bajaj is also slowly stepping in to lead the company’s charge in the electric vehicle segment.
Venu has set his sights on expanding Norton, the international premium motorcycle business TVS acquired in 2020. Rishabh is focused on making the Chetak EV successful.
Chitale began his career in Tata Administrative Services, a pool of young, trained professionals deployed by the group in its companies. Within a year, he moved to tech giant Honeywell, where he spent more than 16 years. From here, he moved to HCL Enterprise, where he became the CEO of HCL Infosystems Ltd.
Chitale then moved to global lighting giant Signify, the owner of brands like Phillips, spending more than a decade in various leadership roles, including vice chairman and CEO.
In his more than three-decade-long career, Hero MotoCorp marks his first stint as the head of an automobile company. His predecessor was not a long-time executive at an automobile company, having worked at Unilever and Vedanta. However, before being elevated to the chief executive position, Gupta spent six years at Hero as chief financial officer.
International focus
“Africa, Latin America, and new expansion in Europe, all continue to be opportunities for us. We have also started, on a low base, our presence now in the Philippines,” said Chitale. “The global market is a big area of focus, and while we are expanding rapidly, there is still a big headroom for growth, and we are focused on that.”
The company’s presence in international markets and EVs remains low.
“HMCL is focusing on building its presence in the executive segment, driven by new products and ongoing upgradation of outlets. The recent launches of Glamor X, Destini 125 and Xoom 125 have received a positive customer response, leading to market share gains,” analysts at Nuvama Institutional Equities wrote in a note on 6 February.
“HMCL is well-positioned to benefit, as it has a wide network and strong presence in 100–125cc categories. Going ahead, we expect a volume/revenue CAGR of 4%/7% over FY26–28E,” they added.
In the past year, the company’s shares surged 36% against an 18% rise in the Nifty Auto index. On Friday, the stock settled 0.35% compared to a 0.52% decline in Nifty Auto.
