Pamela Tikku joins Mahindra Group as Head - Auto, Group Public Affairs

Mahindra Group has appointed Pamela Tikku as the Vice President and Head - Auto, Group Public Affairs. Tikku joins the Indian automotive major after a 17-year-long stint at the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure (NATRiP) project, where she last held the position of being the Chief Business Officer of ICAT - International Centre for Automotive Technology - in Manesar.

In her new role, Tikku will be responsible for voicing Mahindra's views in policy matters related to the automotive sector, at both Central and State government levels in India. A BE in Mechanical Engineering from REC, Jaipur, she started her career as an engineer at Rico Auto Industries before moving to Honda Siel Cars India as a Senior Executive in 1999.

Tikku held the office of the Deputy Director (Technology) at SIAM from 1999 to 2006, before moving to NATRiP as its Deputy Director for Technology, where she served for four years. In 2010, she was given charge as the Deputy Director (Powertrain) of ICAT, before being elevated as the Senior General Manager in 2011, and as the Chief Business Officer of ICAT in 2015.

She was instrumental in driving business growth for the nodal automotive testing, development and homologation body in North India, and steered several projects, including the setting up of ICAT's Technology Portal ASPIRE, set up under the government's Capital Goods Scheme. 

Tikku was a panelist at the Autocar Professional Women's Day special event - 'Women to Watch' - held earlier this year in March, where she actively championed the cause of growing diversity with the need for increasing participation of women across domains in the Indian automotive industry.