Board of Directors

Atul C. Kirloskar began his career with the erstwhile Kirloskar Cummins Limited in the year 1978, where he started out as a trainee. In December 1981, he was appointed as the Chief Executive of Cummins Diesel Sales & Services.

On 1 November 1984, he was appointed as the Executive Vice President of Kirloskar Industries Limited (KIL - earlier known as Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited). He was co-opted on the Board of KIL on 6 August 1985 wherein he took over as the Managing Director. In 1988, he was also appointed as the Vice Chairman of KIL and held the position till 25 July 1998 when he was elected as Chairman of the Board of KIL. He was appointed as Managing Director of Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited (KOEL - earlier known as Kirloskar Engines India Limited) with effect from 31 March 2010. He is also the Chairman of the Board of KOEL. He resigned as Managing Director of KOEL on 25 January 2012 and was appointed as Executive Chairman with effect from 26 January 2012 of KOEL.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum. He has served as President of MCCIA from September 2002 to September 2004, and was Chairman of CII National Committee of Defence since from 1998 to 2008.

Gautam A. Kulkarni started his career in 1978 as a trainee in Kirloskar Industries Limited (KIL - earlier known as Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited). He underwent extensive training in the servicing department, production and Techcentre (R&D) until 1983.

In 1983, he was as Chief Executive of Kirloskar Filters Limited (KFL). Soon after on 2 April 1984, he was appointed as the Managing Director of KFL. On 1 May 1992, he was appointed as the Vice President of Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL). While in KBL, he was attached to the Corporate Office of the group. On 20 August 1998, he was appointed as the Joint Managing Director of Kirloskar Industries Limited (KIL - earlier known as Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited). In July 2000, he was co-opted as a director on the Board of Kirloskar Brothers Limited and as Vice-Chairman. He continued as Joint Managing Director of Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited (KOEL - earlier known as Kirloskar Engines India Limited) with effect from 31 March 2010. He resigned as the Joint Managing Director of KOEL on 25 January 2012 and appointed as the Executive Vice Chairman of KOEL on 26 January 2012.

Nihal G. Kulkarni, A.B. in Economics from Brown University, USA, has over six years of experience in the areas of finance and investments. He has undergone extensive training with the Kirloskar Group, Toyota Motor Sales, USA and DSP Merrill Lynch. He was Vice President in Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Limited upto 22 October 2010. He was appointed as the Managing Director of Kirloskar Industries Limited (KIL) on 23 October 2010. He has resigned as the Managing Director of KIL on 25 January 2012. He has been appointed as Managing Director of Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited with effect from 26 January 2012.

Mr. R. R. Deshpande, who is a Graduate in Mechanical Engineering, joined erstwhile Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited in July 1977. He has worked for the Small, Medium and Large Engines Business Groups of the Company. He has started the Ancillary Development Department in the Company. During his tenure as a Business Unit Head, Medium Engines Business Group became the largest Strategic Business Unit amongst the KIRLOSKAR group. Presently he is working as Executive Director in Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited.

Mr. Rahul C. Kirloskar is qualified as B.S. (mechanical engineering) USA. He has been with the Kirloskar group of companies for more than 25 years at senior levels in different capacities. He has actively participated in extensive course for top management professionals of major international companies on Total Quality Management (TQM) in Japan, conducted by Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineering (JUSE). This course has exposed him to the latest methods of TQM prevailing in Japan. He is also on the board of several companies. He has also been Chairman of the CII Pune Zonal Council as well as CII Maharashtra Council.

Mr. U.V. Rao, former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Larsen and Toubro Limited, is a B.E. in Electrical Engineering; Post Graduate from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in Power Engineering; Post Graduate from Bombay University in Industrial Management; and has studied Advanced Management at the Harvard Business School and at Stanford University USA.

He is the past President of Indian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturer's association, past Chairman CII (WR), past Honorary Consul-General for Denmark for Western India, past Chairman Indo-Danish Business Committee; past member Board of governors, IIM, Ahmedabad, past Member of the Capital Goods Committee of Planning Commission, Government of India, past member Development Council for Heavy Electrical Industries, and Earth moving Machineries, Government of India, etc. 

He has had nearly 4 decades of experience in Larsen & Toubro Limited, during which time he held various positions in marketing, manufacturing and management including that of running the company as its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. He is the recipient of several National and International Awards for excellence in his profession.

Chairman of Sakal Papers Private Limited and Chairman of ASK CHEMICALS FOUNDRY SOLUTION INDIA Pvt. Ltd., is an Engineer from the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology & Science, (BITS), Pilani. He was the Former President of The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture, Pune, The Federation of Chambers and Associations all over Maharashtra, The Indian Newspaper Society, New Delhi and Indian Language Newspapers Association. He is Vice President of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN- IFRA) Paris, and also Director from January 2007. These are some of his memberships on prestigious committees across the world. He is well known social worker and is actively associated as trustee/Member with many trusts/organizations.

R. Srinivasan did his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Madras. He underwent practical training with Buckau Wolf, Grevenbroich, and later with M/s Krupp Widia, Essen, West Germany. He has served Widia, an Indo-German Joint Venture Limited initially as a Works Manager and later as its Managing Director till 1994. He is the past Chairman of CII, Karnataka and Governing Council of CMTI, Bangalore. He is the Past President of Greater Mysore Chamber of Commerce and Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association. At present he is an Independent Director sitting on the Boards of some companies like Tube Investments of India Limited, Sundaram Fasteners Limited, TTK Prestige Limited, TTK Healthcare Limited., Yuken India Limited etc.

Dr. Naushad Forbes is Director of Forbes Marshall, India's leading steam engineering and control instrumentation firm. He is also the CEO of the steam engineering companies within the group. He has been a lecturer and consulting professor at Stanford University from 1987 to 2004. He received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Stanford University and his PhD in Industrial Engineering was on the Process of Technical Entrepreneurship in India, also from Stanford. His book, co-authored with David Wield, From Followers to Leaders: Managing Technology and Innovation in Newly Industrialising Countries, was published by Routledge in 2002. He is on the board of Godrej Industries Limited, Gammon India Limited, Ruby Hall Hospital, Jump Associates LLC, California, Stanford Alumni Association, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune. He is the Past Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (Western Region) and currently a National Council member of CII.

Mr. A. N. Alawani is a Chartered Accountant by profession. He has experience of over 30 years in Import, Export and Labour matters besides his core area of Finance, Taxation, Financial Restructuring and Company Law. His abilities in Corporate Tax Planning and Finance helped various organisations in which he was employed. He has retired as Director (Finance) from Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited on 31 August 2005.

Mr. M. Lakshminarayan, aged 64, holds a Masters degree in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. After working in Tata Motors for 16 Years in the Pune plant, he moved to Bosch Ltd (MICO). He has served in various capacities before joining the Board as Joint Managing Director in 2000.He is presently the Managing Director of Harman International India Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Harman International USA. He is deeply connected with the activities of CII and was the past Chairman, CII Southern Region. He is a Director in Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited, Carborumdum Universal Limited, Rane (Madras) Limited, and Voith Engineering Services (India) Private Limited apart from being the Chairman of WABCOIndia.

Dattatraya R. Swar is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering, started his career with Mahindra & Mahindra, then he worked with Greaves Cotton Limited. In both these Companies, he pre-dominantly worked in Vendor Development / Purchase and Materials Management. He joined erstwhile Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited (KOEL) in 1987 and worked for 20 years in various senior positions, out of which last seven years as Executive Director. He has experience in varied fields such as purchase, vendor developments, materials management, manufacturing and overall business operations. In KOEL he implemented cost reduction programmes vigorously. His efforts in productivity improvement, cost reduction, introductions of new concepts in manufacturing paid rich dividends to KOEL. Besides being a qualified Engineer, he holds Diploma in Purchase Management from American Society and Diploma in Material Management and Production Management, both from Jamanalal Bajaj Institute of Management. He also attended Senior Management Development Programme at IIM, Ahmedabad.