Former Hero CEO Exits Ather's Board On Listing Day

SUMMARY

Ather’s non-executive director and departing CEO of Hero Niranjan Kumar Gupta resigned from its board effective from May 6, the date of its listing

While Ather is yet to share Gupta's replacement on its board, Hero's chief procurement officer Ram Kuppuswamy continues to hold his position on its board

Ather’s promoter Hero MotoCorp hived off its EV unit earlier this year

EV major Ather Energy’s boardroom has seen some volatility after a tepid listing earlier this week. Yesterday, the company announced that its non-executive director and departing CEO of Hero, Niranjan Kumar Gupta, resigned from its board, effective from May 6, the date of its listing.

Gupta, who had been on the company’s board since 2020, was Ather backer Hero’s nominee for its board. Besides, he was also part of the company’s IPO committee. He resigned from the CEO position of Hero MotoCorp on January 31, 2025, and effectively departed the company on April 30 to “pursue other opportunities”.

Prior to taking up the role of CEO at Hero in 2023, Gupta had held the CFO position at the company between 2017 and 2023. In his place, Hero MotoCorp had announced that its executive director of operations Vikram Kasbekar took the position of the acting CEO of the company from May 1.

While Ather is yet to share Gupta’s replacement on its board, Hero’s chief procurement officer Ram Kuppuswamy continues to hold his position on its board. Other board members of Ather, except founders, include Zomato’s chairman Kaushik Dutta, GIC’s Pankaj Sood and NIIF’s Nilesh Shrivastava, among others.

Important to mention that after a near flat listing on Tuesday, the company’s shares have been met with a bearish investor sentiment. From its listing price of INR 326.05, the company’s shares plunged about 12% to hit a low of INR 287.30 during intraday trading on Wednesday.

The EV major’s IPO listed on the bourses after seeing a subdued investor interest for the offer last week. The company’s IPO closed with an oversubscription of 1.43X on April 30. It received bids for 7.65 Cr shares as against 5.34 Cr shares on offer.

With the public listing, Ather has become the second EV company to debut on the stock exchanges. Founded in 2013 by Mehta and Jain as an IIT Madras incubated startup, Ather has emerged as one of India’s leading EV scooter manufacturers in India.

Important to note that Ather’s investor and competitor Hero MotoCorp holds more than 38% stake in the company. Besides the two cofounders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, Hero MotoCorp is also a promoter for the EV major.

Ather Energy, which already trails the Ola Electric, Bajaj and TVS in the burgeoning EV two-wheeler space, is likely to see a more intense competition from its investor and promoter Hero in the near future.