Sorensen exits Tata board, stays with JLR; Sudha Krishnan appointed independent director; Dhiman Gupta named CFO
26 Sep 2025 | 12653 Views | By Ketan Thakkar & Kiran Murali
Tata Motors on Friday announced sweeping changes in its leadership as it prepares to demerge its commercial vehicles arm. Group CFO P B Balaji will take charge as CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), and former CEO Guenter Butschek will move to the board of the proposed listed truck unit.
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Tata Motors on Friday announced sweeping changes in its leadership as it prepares to demerge its commercial vehicles arm. Group CFO P B Balaji will take charge as CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), and former CEO Guenter Butschek will move to the board of the proposed listed truck unit.
Balaji, who has been Tata Motors' finance chief since 2017, will step down on Nov. 17 to lead JLR in the UK. He will, however, continue his association with the parent as a non-executive, non-independent director on Tata Motors' board. Balaji, an IIT-IIM alumnus and former Hindustan Unilever executive, has been credited with strengthening the automaker's balance sheet and steering capital allocation across its businesses.
As part of the restructuring, Butschek, who served as Tata Motors' managing director between 2016 and 2021, will cease to be an independent director on the company's board from Oct. 1. He is set to join the board of TML Commercial Vehicles Ltd., the entity to which the trucks and buses business is being transferred ahead of a separate listing.
The company also said Girish Wagh, head of the commercial vehicles business, will exit the Tata Motors board and become MD & CEO of TML Commercial Vehicles. Shailesh Chandra, currently heading Tata's passenger vehicles and EV units, will take over as MD & CEO of Tata Motors Ltd. for a three-year term starting Oct. 1.
In his internal statement, Tata Motors Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said the strategic realignment would give both businesses "sharper focus, greater agility, and deeper customer centricity," enhancing shareholder value and expanding employee opportunities.
Dhiman Gupta and G.V. Ramanan are the new Chief Financial Officers of the passenger and commercial vehicle entities, respectively, as part of the post-demerger leadership structure.
Following approval by the National Company Law Tribunal, effective October 1, 2025, Tata Motors will demerge its Commercial Vehicles (CV) business into TML Commercial Vehicles Limited (to be renamed Tata Motors Limited). The Passenger Vehicles (PV) segment, including Electric Vehicles and Jaguar Land Rover, will remain under the parent entity, which will be renamed Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Limited. This move aims to sharpen its strategic focus and unlock value for shareholders.
Independent directors Hanne Sorensen and Kosaraju Veerayya Chowdary will step down from Tata Motors' board at the end of September. Sorensen will remain on the board of Jaguar Land Rover, while the company has appointed former bureaucrat Sudha Krishnan as a new independent director effective Oct. 1