Vinod Rai elevated as the head-HR (Engineering, QA, and Rohtak R&D), Maruti Suzuki India

Rai has been with the company for more than six years.

Taking up a larger role at Maruti Suzuki India now, Vinod Rai, who was the head-HR (supply chain and plant) has been elevated as the head-HR (Engineering, QA, and Rohtak R&D). Having been with the company for over six years, he is now responsible for leading end-to-end HR operations of engineering, quality analysis, as well as Rohtak R&D facility, which has an employee strength of about 3200.

In his previous role at Maruti Suzuki, Rai was uniquely responsible for setting up standardised HR/IR capabilities for the company’s external stakeholders or the vendor companies ensuring sustainability for the overall business. Being a little different from the regular internal HR function, the role itself was challenging and offered him remarkable exposure to third-party integration.

With that experience in hand, Rai takes the lead for managing HR for another critical arm of the company. “R&D is where the future of Maruti Suzuki is created, and hence, it is extremely crucial to the business. With investments into research and development, quality assurance and engineering, the Company has also made some internal changes in HR. This role is much larger, allows me to contribute to internal HR and will also be a great value-add to my experience,” he says.

Rai is a management graduate and had joined Maruti Suzuki in 2011, as the head-talent (corporate). Prior to this, he has also worked with Jubilant Life Sciences as the head, DGM-business HR and talent acquisition.