Former Hyundai executive Srivastava to join JSW Energy for EV foray

Rakesh Srivastava, the former director for sales and marketing at Hyundai Motor India, is set to join the Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Energy, which is seeking to establish its beachhead in the electric vehicles industry.

According to several people in the know, Srivastava is part of the senior leadership team that will prepare a blueprint for helping the JSW Group achieve its automotive ambitions. The JSW Group, which runs India’s second-biggest private steel business may invest up to a billion dollars for the electric vehicles business in the coming 4-5 years.

Srivastava did not respond to ET’ queries, whereas a senior executive at JSW Energy confirmed the move.


The JSW Group has engaged several Chinese carmakers for its electric vehicles venture, and is in talks with several state governments, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, for establishing a manufacturing facility. JSW Energy has already brought on board Sergio Rocha as COO of EVs, passenger vehicles. Rocha was previously heading General Motors’ South Korean operations out of Seoul. Interestingly, the company had recently held negotiations with the US carmaker for acquiring its Talegaon facility in Maharashtra.

JSW Energy had initially announced plans of entering the passenger car market with an electric vehicle after 2020. Later, it decided to increase its scope of entry into the automotive sector by adding commercial vehicles, including buses, trucks and small trucks.

An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Srivastava has spent more than a decade and a half at Maruti Suzuki and then another six and half years at Hyundai Motor India. He was responsible for helping the South Korean carmaker transition from a small car specialist to a vehicle maker that could penetrate the mid-size and premium ends of the Indian market.

Under Srivastava’s leadership, Hyundai Motor India saw its sales increase from 3.65 lakh units to 5.55 lakh units in six years.