Exclusive - Mahindra EV Charging Head Kedar Apte Exits; Anoop Kachhara Appointed Successor

Mahindra & Mahindra has appointed Anoop Kachhara as vice president and business head of EV charging infrastructure, following the departure of the current head of charging, Kedar Apte. 

Apte is moving on to pursue opportunities outside the Mahindra Group, the company said in an internal announcement. He had joined Mahindra as chief of international operations for the farm equipment business and later took charge of EV charging initiatives, leading the rollout of public charging stations and partnerships for home charger installation and servicing since October 2024. 

Kachhara will oversee both public and private EV charging infrastructure, including home charging and corporate charging solutions, and will report to Nalinikanth Gollagunta, chief executive of Mahindra's automotive division, the internal missive added. 

Kachhara has been with the Mahindra Group since 2022 and was part of the group strategy office as vice president – strategy. Over the past six months, he has been on secondment to the auto business, working on the development of public EV charging infrastructure. During this period, he helped define the strategy, design principles, and initial rollout of public EV charging stations, the company said.

Mahindra added that Kachhara has also been working with India's Ministry of Heavy Industries and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd to support the expansion of EV charging infrastructure across the country.

Before joining Mahindra, Kachhara worked with Bain & Company as an associate partner. He holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow and a bachelor's degree in computer science from NIT Jaipur.

He will play a critical role in offering much-needed support for prospective EV buyers of Mahindra & Mahindra. The maker of Scorpio and Bolero has expanded its EV lineup by adding XEV 9e and XUV 3XO EV in the last couple of months, bringing its born EV models – BE 6e and XEV 9e - to 4. 

Mahindra & Mahindra was the third-largest EV maker in 2025, with sales of 33,513 units, as per Vahan retail data shared by the Federation of Automotive Dealers Associations. With the expanded portfolio, the company is gunning for annual volumes of over 1 lakh units in the next couple of years, or looking at an EV penetration of 20-30% in the next few years.  

Mahindra has announced plans to establish 250 electric vehicle charging stations equipped with 180 kW chargers, creating over 1,000 charging points by the end of 2027 as part of its Charge_IN network initiative.

Mahindra customers can access over 34,000 public charging points across various operators through the Me4U app, including the new Charge_IN network.