Ashok Leyland on hiring spree for Nissan JV

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Mumbai, Nov 29: The much-talked-about Nissan-Ashok Leyland joint venture, the first collaboration in India where the partners will market and brand products separately, is all set to hire 400-500 executives, said JN Amrolia, executive director, Ashok Leyland. The JV will not only be looking at products and technologies from Nissan, but also best business practices followed by the organisation.

The $500-million partnership, covering a manufacturing, powertrain and an R&D venture, will start production in 2010 and roll out vehicles such as the new generation Nissan Atlas F24 light-duty truck.

While Ashok Leyland will hold majority stake in the first venture, Nissan will have majority in the second. The third will be a 50:50 joint venture.

Talking to FE, Amrolia said, “Capability development for new businesses and making sure that the company is prepared for breadth of work and global footprint is the biggest challenge for me.”

With 13,000 employees (10,000 associates and 3,000 executives), Ashok Leyland’s attrition rate is just 5% as it has been able to overcome its traditional HR practices and incorporated a new team of executives to take the company forward. Nearly 45% of the company’s employees are below 35 years of age.

The company will also hire 1,000 workmen and 300 executives after the Rs 4,000-crore expansion of its Uttarakhand plant is over.

“Of the 300 executives that we plan to recruit in Uttarakhand, 50% will be Ashok Leyland's present staff, who will be joining there and the remaining will be from outside,” added Amrolia. The Uttarakhand plant is expected to be commissioned by September next year.

This year, Ashok Leyland will hire about 500 executives, 50% of whom will be graduate engineers and the remaining diploma engineers.