JCB India the fully-owned subsidiary of JC Bamford Excavators, UK, one of the world's leading manufacturers of earthmoving and construction equipment, today announced appointing Subir Chowdhury, who is currently JCB India’s COO, to take up the as the MD and CEO by end-2019.

Chowdhury will replace Vipin Sondhi, who moves on to Hinduja Group after 13 years’ service as MD and CEO to take up a position outside the industry. The Sondhi family has a long association with Ashok Leyland. Sondhi's father served as chairman of Ashok Leyland for 12 years.

Chowdhury had joined JCB India in 2005 as executive vice-president – Operations and was promoted to the role of COO in 2017, and has been credited with spearheading the expansion of JCB India from a single factory operation in New Delhi in 2006 to a network of five factories today — Pune, Jaipur and New Delhi. A sixth factory is currently under construction in Gujarat, which is set to began operations in 2020.

Graeme Macdonald, CEO, JCB Group said: “I would like to thank Vipin Sondhi for his exceptional contribution to the JCB Group. Under his leadership, JCB India has cemented its position as a major player in the Indian construction equipment industry, and I wish him well for the future. Subir Chowdhury has a proven track record at JCB and I am delighted he is taking up the position as MD and CEO. He has been directly responsible for delivering the additional manufacturing capacity needed to keep pace with the phenomenal growth in the Indian construction equipment market. JCB India is in very safe hands and is perfectly positioned for future growth.”

Before joining JCB India, Chowdhury was director – Manufacturing for Whirlpool based in New Delhi (2001-2005). 

Subir Chowdhury image courtesy: Mahindra World City