Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto, revealed that he resisted family pressure to pursue an MBA from Harvard. “I am the only one in my family who hasn’t gone to a business school,” he said in an interview with Moneycontrol.
Bajaj said his goal wasn’t to make Bajaj Auto the biggest or most profitable company, but the most versatile. “As Charles Darwin said, it’s not the strongest or most intelligent species that survives, but the most adaptable,” he remarked. Under his leadership, the company has undergone what he described as two-and-a-half transitions, from scooters to motorcycles, from domestic to international markets, and now from ICE to EV technology.
Bajaj Auto has consistently kept its margins above 20%. He claimed that the company is a 21–22% EBITDA company, but 1–2% is set aside for experimentation.
He dismissed buzzwords like “premiumization”, by calling it a “cliché”. Instead, Bajaj prefers to speak in terms of differentiation and brand focus. He said focus and fragmentation are two sides of the same coin. “My go-to-market strategy is go-to-brand. Brands don’t travel between segments as easily as managers would like them to.”
Known for his wordplay, he quoted Bajaj, Enfield and TVS as the “BET” group that “eats OATS”, a nod to EV startups like Ola, Ather, Tork and SmartE. Yet, his humor is not at the expense of others. He has openly admitted to past missteps, including calling the Discover 100cc launch his “biggest blunder.”
Bajaj also credited his family for shaping his leadership style. He shared how his father, Rahul Bajaj, moved the family from Mumbai to Akurdi, near Pune, to avoid absentee landlordism in running the factory. His mother ensured they attended the same school as the children of Bajaj Auto staff. “That gave us our values — meritocracy, not aristocracy,” he said.
While most CEOs quote financial metrics, Bajaj quotes Mark Twain, saying, “Don’t let your schooling interfere with your education.”