new delhi in his long and distinguished career spanning well over five decades jagdish khattar who passed away monday morning aged 78 following a cardiac arrest wore many hats and almost all of them with aplomb originally a bureaucrat who among other achievements was credited with setting up of nowbustling noida as its first ceo on the instructions of sanjay gandhi khattar transitioned initially with reluctance towards the corporate sector in july 1993 when at the age of 50 he resigned as an ias officer to join what was then maruti udyog ltd a fledgling car company jointly controlled by the government of india and japans suzuki initial hesitance apart khattar never really looked back since then as he almost singlehandedly built the foundations of one of independent indias most successful publictoprivate sector companies that today boasts of one of the biggest cash reserves over rs 37000 crore for a private enterprise a staggering 50 market share and a reputation of making allweather lowmaintenance valueformoney vehicles that have beaten products from almost all the worlds top makers such as volkswagen toyota general motors ford and hondakhattars only known failure was a selfventure carnation auto multibrand car sales and service outlets the venture after retirement from maruti kept himself busy till his last days khattar always advocated hard for adoption of cycles which he believed were good for health as well as the environment in choked citiescarnation auto after some success initially never really took off as khattar fought a valiant battle against car companies that went up to the competition commission of india as he sought access to genuine parts something that the automakers denied fearing a loss to their own dealerships he won the case though it was too late by then and carnation had to even face a cbi inquiry in december 2019 though khattar called it a bonafide business failure it was at maruti suzuki where his real acumen as a sharp insightful leader came to the fore and where he not only built a large company but also an institution which made deep inroads into the nooks and corners of india as an aspirational and growing india started to think of cars khattar not only launched affordable models but ensured that they were sold and serviced close to where people lived the theme was even captured in marutis campaigns that spoke about the companys dealerships and service ability even in farflung areas of the north and northeast for dealers khattar made business more than just selling cars as he introduced new revenue streams through the concept of selling used cars insurance and financing but for all the success khattar was not even sure to join maruti in the first place it meant quitting the ias and i had to literally persuade him to join maruti and convince him that it was a good option r c bhargava seen as instrumental in khattars selection and currently the nonexecutive chairman of the company told