Ravi Kant (born 1 June 1944) is an Indian executive who had served as the vice chairman from 2 June 2009 to 31 May 2014 and the managing director of
Tata Motors
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, cars, trucks, vans, and busses, buses.
T ...
from 29 July 2005 to 1 June 2009. He is known to lead Tata Motors in its tough times.
He is a distinguished professor at
IIT Kharagpur
The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Founded in 1951, the in ...
and a visiting leader at
China Europe International Business School
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS ( ) ) is a business school headquartered in Pudong, Shanghai, China. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Accra in Ghana, and Zurich in Switzerland.
Established under an agreement ...
, Shanghai.
Education
Ravi Kant completed his school education from
Mayo College, Ajmer. He has a Bachelor of Technology degree from the
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a Public university, public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Foun ...
and an MS in Industry from
Aston University
Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...
, UK. He is a distinguished alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer, IIT Kharagpur and was conferred Honorary D. Sc. from Aston University. He has received distinguished alumnus awards from these institutions and Aston conferred on him a D.Sc. (Hon). He is an Industrial Professor at the
University of Warwick, UK. and a distinguished professor at
IIT Kharagpur
The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Founded in 1951, the in ...
.
Career
Ravi Kant has nearly 50 years of corporate experience in extractive, consumer durable and automobile industries. He spent 15 years in
Tata Motors
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company, headquartered in Mumbai and part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, cars, trucks, vans, and busses, buses.
T ...
where he was the CEO and managing director and later Vice Chairman of the board. He led the acquisition of
Jaguar Land Rover, UK;
Tata Daewoo, South Korea and establishe
Tata Motors, Thailandand other companies which helped increase the revenue from $1.5 to $39 bn. Under his watch, Tata Motors launched
Tata Ace
The Tata Ace is a model of mini truck manufactured by Tata Motors which was launched in 2005.
History
In December 2000, Girish Wagh was given a brief by Ravi Kant (Indian executive), Ravi Kant to create a novel lightweight truck line that woul ...
which nearly doubled the size of the commercial vehicle market in India and
Nano small car, a case study in Innovation. He has been chairman of several companies lik
Tata Advanced Materials Hispano Carrocera, SpainTata Motors European Technical Centre, U.K Tata Marcopolo
Tata Marcopolo (officially Tata Marcopolo Motors Ltd.) is a bus and coach manufacturing company with headquarters in Karnataka, India.
It was incorporated as a joint venture between Tata Motors and Marcopolo S.A. In December 2020, Marcopolo ...
Tata Thailand Tata Daewoo
Tata Daewoo (officially Tata Daewoo Mobility) is a commercial vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, South Korea and a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors. It is the second-largest heavy commercial vehicle manu ...
, etc. and director on several others lik
Tata Industries Voltas
Voltas Limited is an IndianĀ multinational home appliances company, headquartered in Mumbai. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells products including air conditioners, air coolers, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, micro ...
,
Vedanta Ltd. (one of the largest natural resource companies in the world) and
Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and SUVs and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, Unite ...
etc.
Prior to Tata Motors, he was a director, Consumer Electronics, on the board of
Philips India. He has also worked in senior positions at LML Ltd,
Titan Watches
Titan Company Limited is an Indian company that mainly manufactures fashion accessories such as jewellery, watches and eyewear. Part of the Tata Group and started as a joint venture with TIDCO, the company has its corporate headquarters in E ...
,
Kinetic Engineering
Kinetic Engineering Limited is an Indian automotive manufacturer. The company was founded in the year 1972 by H. K. Firodia. Today it is an automotive component manufacturer which formerly sold two-wheelers under the brand names Kinetic Honda an ...
,
Hawkins and
Hindalco Industries Ltd. Currently, he is on the board of
Kone Ltd, Helsinki, one of the top elevator companies in the world, and
Hawkins Cookers Ltd, a well-known consumer durable company. He is on the Advisory Board of
Accenture India.
He was the chairman of
Audit Bureau of Circulations An Audit Bureau of Circulations is a private organization that provides industry-agreed standards for media brand measurement of print publications and other media outlets in a given country. The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulat ...
,
Advertising Standards Council of India
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is a voluntary self-regulatory organization of the advertising industry in India. Established in 1985, ASCI is registered as a non-profit company under section 8 of the Company Act.
ASCI is comm ...
,
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
The automotive industry in India is the world's fourth-largest by production and valuation as per 2022 statistics. As of 2025, India is the ''3rd largest automobile market'' in the world in terms of sales.
, India's auto industry is worth mor ...
and executive member of
Confederation of Indian Industries
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a non-governmental business and industry organisation and advocacy group headquartered in New Delhi, India, founded in 1895.
CII is a membership-based organisation. CII has 70 offices in India, i ...
. He has been conferred several distinguished awards and has been invited to diverse platforms for interaction across the world.
Mr. Ravi Kant also takes a keen interest in education and health areas. He was the Chairman of
IIM, Rohtak and Chairman of
IIIT Allahabad. He is on advisory boards of business schools at
IIT Bombay
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT- Bombay or IIT-B) is a Public university, public research university and Institute of technology, technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
IIT Bombay is mainly known for the hig ...
and
Kharagpur
Kharagpur () is a semi- planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision and the largest city of the district. It is located 1 ...
. He was on the Board of
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
The National Institute of Design (NID) is a public design university in Paldi, Ahmedabad, with extension campuses in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. Regarded as one of the foremost design schools in Asia as surveyed by ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' in ...
and Centre of Extractive Industry at th
Earth Institute University of Columbia and
CGIO, Business School, National University of Singapore. He was on the Advisory Board of
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai where he is presently a visiting leader. He has been on the board o
Enactus a non-profit US organisation facilitating college students to think and act like entrepreneurs with social orientation. He has been associated with
Smile Train
Smile Train is a nonprofit organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates. Headquartered in New York City and founded in 1999, Smile Train provides free corrective cleft surgery in 87 countries, ...
, a US-based non-profit supporting correction of cleft palate and was on the board of New York-based WonderWork active in supporting surgeries for blindness, burns and club foot across the world. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board of
Akhand Jyoti Hospital, one of the largest eye organisations in India and that o
Med therapy Indiapromoted by doctors from Harvard Medical School and
Novartis
Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...
to enable gene therapy to be available at a more affordable price for the masses. He is also associated wit
Karkinos Healthcareto enable screening, diagnosis and treatment of cancer to the masses at affordable prices and international quality.
References
External links
Akhand Jyoti HospitalOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kant, Ravi
Businesspeople from Mumbai
Alumni of Aston University
IIT Kharagpur alumni
Indian Institutes of Technology alumni
Living people
Automotive industry in India
1944 births