AutoNxt Automation, India’s First electric tractor venture in the wake of launching its Electric self-driving tractors has recently boosted its Board and Founding team with Experienced industry professionals, Mr. Pankaj Goyal & Mr. I.V. Rao. Mr. Pankaj Goyal is now onboard as a Co-Founder and COO and Mr. I.V. Rao as the Board Director of AutoNxt Automation.
Mr. Pankaj Goyal has joined as the Co-Founder and the COO as AutoNxt was looking for an experienced professional executive to come on board, to help them go from the R&D stage to the production stage. That’s where Mr. Pankaj Goyal’s joining the company helps AutoNxt Automation and its young team. The deadly combination of a young dynamic founder and an experienced industry professional joining as co-founder helps the company build innovative, advanced products in a very efficient manner to make them a reality.
Mr. Goyal is a seasoned leader having lead senior roles in big corporate across Indian and European countries, having established own school with own brand Brainwaves International, now focusing on his passion for automobile and EV technology with potential for automation to leverage digital in Agriculture applications being a Co-Founder and COO for start-up Autonxt Automation. He has managed 0.5 Billion Euro’s P&L for Schneider Electric for its Nordic Baltic Zone business, been a member of the top management team for Schneider Electric Greater India Zone, having a turnover of over 10,000 Cr, after almost a decade in Nordic countries and France in leadership positions with Schneider Electric. He has led Smart Cities Segment for Greater India and built a global Technology Centre for Schneider Electric in Bangalore from 2004 to 2010. A track record of leadership development and shaping organization culture to create profitable growth. A true International leadership profile with experience across all departments / functions for any organization.
I.V. Rao is a Visiting “Senior Fellow” in Centre for Sustainable mobility group of TERI (The Energy Research Institute), a renowned think tank based in New Delhi (2019 ~). Mr Rao has Over 36 years of experience in auto industry and overall 46 years of rich professional experience. In an accomplished career at Maruti Suzuki spanning 36 years, he made significant contribution in different roles in the areas of Technology Transfer, New Product Planning & Development, Component Localization, Quality Assurance & Service and Manufacturing Engineering functions.
Under his leadership, Maruti Suzuki R&D has grown from strength to strength and has developed capability for new model development, alternate fuel product development and new technology development. His most significant contributions have been establishment of a world class R&D with proving ground and test centre at Rohtak and launch of new products like New Alto, Alto K10 and Eeco designed and developed by Maruti Engineers in India.- It’s important to note that Maruti Suzuki R&D is the only R&D centre of Suzuki Motor Corporations outside of Japan.
With the vast experience of technology development and understanding of Indian context, he played a vital role in formulation of automotive regulations in India. He held key positions in different industry/ government bodies as: Member, Group of Experts for formulation of future regulations for auto industry – Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Participated in all the discussions as SIAM representative with MORTH / MOEF for formulation of Mass emission regulations and Safety standards from 1996 onwards and for formulation of various safety standards and CMVR related charges. Mr. I.V. Rao was an Executive Council member – SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile manufacturers (2005-2015). As Sr. Fellow in CSM in TERI , working on segment wise technology options for Sustainable mobility and Life cycle assessment studies for new mobility technologies.
“Mr. Pankaj Goyal and Mr. I. V. Rao both are extremely valuable additions to our leadership team and they have truly boosted the overall growth of AutoNxt with their rich industry experience. At AutoNxt, our vision is to build products that have a positive impact on our customer’s lives and to achieve this, it is critical for us to onboard leaders who have been through multiple successful product life cycles in the automotive industry. Mr. Pankaj and Mr. Rao are one of the very few senior professionals that I have come across, who not only have a very strong R&D and production experience, but they are also extremely open to adapt and develop strategies as per the latest technological developments. They have been responsible for constructing a smooth bridge between R&D and Production stage for all of our upcoming products. I look forward to our association with them to build the most iconic range of electric and self-driving vehicles and transform the Indian mobility sector.” said Kaustubh Dhonde, Founder & CEO of AutoNxt Automation.
