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Two months after he was elevated as MD of Bajaj Electricals, Anant Bajaj died on Friday due to a cardiac arrest.
Bajaj, 41, was the only son of industrialist Shekhar Bajaj. He had joined his father’s firm as a sales trainee at 19, and was groomed since then to lead the company.
Anant’s demise at a young age sent shock waves through the corporate and political world. “Shocked & deeply saddened by the untimely death of my friend & classmate Anant Bajaj,” tweeted MP Milind Deora. “Life is so precious - let’s love one another, live each day, reach out to each other & be kind to each other.”
The family is now facing the tough question of who will lead Bajaj Electricals. The group traces its history back to freedom fighter and founder Jamnalal Bajaj. The various businesses are now owned by Rahul Bajaj along with Shekhar, Madhur and Niraj. Rahul’s son Rajiv manages the group’s auto business.
Digital transformation
According to company executives, Anant was leading a digital transformation in the company ever since he was appointed as Joint Managing Director in 2012. “Anant Bajaj played crucial leadership roles through his 19 years’ career at Bajaj Electricals Ltd. He was appointed on the board of the company in February 2006 and the company immensely benefited from his vision and leadership during his tenure. His sudden and unexpected passing away will be an irreparable loss to the company,” Bajaj Electricals said in a statement to the stock exchanges.
Anant was known to be a geek who loved experimenting with new tech platforms. One of the things he was testing on himself was a self-healing polymer. “Can you imagine a world where you will not require medicines to heal a wound? The technology already exists, but it is not available commercially yet. However, I have already tested it,” he had said in a recent interview, adding that the polymer was injected into him to track what was going on in his body through an app on his phone.
Anant held a degree in Commerce from HR College, Mumbai, and a postgraduate diploma from the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research.
Anant started his career as a Project Co-ordinator at Bajaj Electricals in 1999 and was responsible for setting up the ₹450-million High Mast Manufacturing and Galvanizing Plant for the company at Ranjangaon, near Pune. His interests varied from music, sports and travelling to wildlife conservation. He was appointed as General Manager, Special Assignments, in 2005. Under his leadership, the exports arm, Bajaj International Pvt Ltd, made forays into businesses such as IT and solar products. In February 2006, Anant was appointed to the board of Bajaj Electricals as Executive Director and as the JMD on April 1, 2012.
“He coined the term FMEG (Fast Moving Electrical Goods) company for Bajaj Electricals. His entire focus was on deploying cutting-edge technologies to create next-generation appliances. He also got the entire organisation on board with IoT analytics — a move that he believed will drive product development and create better offerings,” said a company executive.
For example, the is working on technology through which Bajaj products can be controlled through Amazon’s voice command Alexa using an app.
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