Rakesh Makhija has been elevated to the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors by Castrol India. He will succeed R Gopalakrishnan, with effect from October 1, 2024.
Earlier in April this year, the Board of Directors of Castrol India approved the reappointment of Makhija as an Independent Director for five years (effective from October 1).
In 2019, Makhija joined Castrol India as an Independent Non-Executive Director on its Board of Directors.
He has also served as an Independent Director on the Board of Axis Bank since 2015 and as the Non-Executive Chairman of Axis Bank since July 2019. He also sits on the Board of A.Treds Limited, a subsidiary of Axis Bank.
Makhija has made significant contributions to the industrial and technology sectors globally and in India. Within the SKF group, he held various positions. Previously, he served as President of SKF Asia, overseeing operations in China and India from Shanghai, and as Managing Director of SKF India from 2002 to 2009.
Before his tenure at SKF, he was the CEO and MD of Tata Honeywell, later becoming Country Manager and MD of Honeywell International for South Asia. Prior to that, he spent over eight years at Kinetics Technology International BV (now Technip) in the Netherlands.
He holds a degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
R Gopalakrishnan has been an Executive Director of Tata Sons and served on the boards of Tata Power, Tata Technologies, AkzoNobel India, and ABP Pvt. Ltd.