Bajaj Auto promotes Rakesh Sharma as the Joint Managing Director

Bajaj Auto Limited announced on May 6, 2026, that its Board of Directors has approved the re-designation of Rakesh Sharma from Executive Director to Joint Managing Director of the company. The appointment takes effect from June 1, 2026, and will run until March 31, 2029. It remains subject to formal approval by the company's shareholders, which is expected to be sought at a forthcoming general meeting.

1. Rakesh Sharma has served at Bajaj Auto for over 19 years
2. He will be the Joint Managing Director with effect from June 1 
3. Sharma brings over 40 years of professional experience to his new role

Bajaj appoints Joint Managing Director

Sharma will retain oversight of his existing business responsibilities while absorbing two additional functions.

The decision was taken at a board meeting following a recommendation from the Nomination and Remuneration Committee - the body responsible for evaluating senior leadership appointments and remuneration structures at the company. 

In his new capacity as Joint Managing Director, Sharma will retain oversight of his existing business responsibilities while absorbing two significant additional functions. The company's Digital & IT division, which is tasked with driving Bajaj Auto's broader digital transformation agenda, will now report directly to him. So will the Legal function.

The consolidation of these departments under Sharma's oversight reflects a deliberate structural choice by the company's leadership. By positioning technology and legal operations under a Joint Managing Director with deep commercial experience, Bajaj Auto appears to be aligning its digital initiatives more closely with its core business strategy.

Sharma will continue to report to Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, maintaining the existing chain of command at the apex of the company's executive structure.

Sharma brings over 40 years of professional experience to his new role. He joined Bajaj Auto in October 2007 as President of International Business, a role in which he spent more than a decade building and expanding the company's overseas footprint. During this period, Bajaj Auto grew into one of the largest exporters of two-wheelers and three-wheelers from India, with a presence across Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia.

In July 2018, Sharma was elevated to the position of Chief Commercial Officer, taking on broader responsibility for the company's front-end business units. Less than a year later, in January 2019, he was appointed Executive Director - a position he has held until this latest re-designation. With nearly 19 years at the organisation, he is among its longest-serving senior leaders.

The move to elevate Sharma to Joint Managing Director represents one of the more significant leadership changes at Bajaj Auto in recent years. The creation of a Joint Managing Director role, sitting between the Managing Director and other executive directors, suggests the company is preparing its top tier of management to handle a broader and more complex operational canvas.

Adding oversight of Digital & IT to a Joint Managing Director's brief - rather than keeping it as a standalone functional vertical — points to the company's intent to treat technology not as a support function but as an integral part of its commercial and strategic direction. This is consistent with a wider trend among Indian manufacturing conglomerates, which have increasingly sought to place digital transformation initiatives under mainstream business leadership rather than within isolated technology departments.

With inputs from ANGITHA SURESH