Vikram Kirloskar Dies At 64
Vikram Shreekant Kirloskar, a fourth-generation member of the Kirloskar Group, was instrumental in bringing Toyota to India.
Vikram Shreekant Kirloskar, vice chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd., died after suffering a heart attack, a family member confirmed late evening Tuesday. He was 64.
The chairman of Kirloskar Systems Ltd. had suffered a massive heart attack, following which he was declared brain-dead, the family member said. He is survived by his wife Geetanjali Kirloskar and daughter Manasi Kirloskar.
"We are extremely saddened to inform the untimely demise of Mr. Vikram S. Kirloskar on Nov. 29, 2022," Toyota Kirloskar said in a statement on Wednesday morning. "At this time of grief, we request everyone to pray that his soul rests in peace. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends."
The last rites will be conducted at the Hebbal crematorium in Bengaluru at 1:00 pm today.
A fourth-generation member of the group founded by Laxmanrao Kirloskar in 1888, Vikram Kirloskar joined the business after college as a production-engineering trainee at Kirloskar Cummins in Pune.
He was involved in opening the import licensing for capital equipment while serving on the government’s Development Council for Machine Tools in the late 1980s, according to his profile on the website of Indian School of Business.
A graduate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kirloskar played a pivotal role in bringing Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp.—the world’s largest carmaker—to India in 1997.
“We began with textiles along with Toyota and then I thought we must get into the car business as well,” Kirloskar told MillionaireAsia in a 2017 interview. “This was because I felt that this is where we could see the best manufacturing company in the world from the inside and use the learnings in our own Kirloskar factories.” Today, the Toyota business in India spans five companies where Kirloskar Systems is the partner.
The partnership has made Karnataka—where Toyota Kirloskar has its plant in Bidadi near Bengaluru—a major auto-manufacturing hub. For this, he has been conferred the ‘Suvarna Karnataka’ award.