“This 25-year-old journey of taking India to the world on a Bajaj that started as being an exercise in business has rapidly become an experience in oneness. I cannot help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction that in so wandering around the world, we have helped my father walk his talk of being the best in whatever one chooses to do. In the words of Jamnalalji Katni Karni Eksi.” – Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto at #100YearsOfBajaj.
What Rajiv Bajaj said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director and CEO of Bajaj Auto, opened a centenary celebration by discussing his personal passions of dogs, homeopathy, and yoga, and recounted a 1993 conversation with his father, the company's founder, about what it means to be world class. His father set a benchmark: exporting at least 10% of production would indicate world-class status. Bajaj noted that at the time, the company exported nothing and sold everything domestically. He framed this as a defining objective for his career, using a yoga teacher's 2012 saying about pain and flawed direction to reflect on the importance of clear purpose. The conversation focused on this historical moment and the company's evolution, without providing current business figures or forward-looking commitments.
Key takeaways
Bajaj's father set a 10% export target as the definition of world class in 1993.
Bajaj joined Bajaj Auto in 1990 and had worked there for three years by 1993.
A yoga teacher's 2012 saying about pain and flawed direction influenced Bajaj's thinking.
Numbers and commitments
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What it refers to
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10%
Export target set by father for world-class status
Friends of my family and families of my friends, good evening. A very warm welcome. Before I begin, I discovered that many people here are a little amused about my T-shirt. But then, that's me — often wrong but impossible to ignore. So in welcoming you today, I thought I would share a few thoughts with you about my three passions. And when I say three passions, most people seem to think that they might be scooters and motorcycles and three-wheelers, but they are not. My three personal passions are dogs, homeopathy, and yoga. I was fortunate to be a student of yoga guruji BKSA in Pune. And Guruji once said to me, in yoga as in life, there is pain only if the direction of your movement is flawed. When he said something like that to me in August 2012, my mind went back to 1993. I had been working at Bajaj for three years by then, having joined in 1990. And one afternoon, with no particular direction in sight, I asked my father what it was that he would like me to be doing at Bajaj. And my father said to me, do what you think best, but be the best in what you do. The engineer in me was a little perplexed at this management mantra from Harvard Business School. So I probed a little further. What does it mean to be the best? I remember he said then — this is 23 years ago — we aren't able to export anything. Everything that we make is sold in this market. If we were to export at least 10% of what we make, I'd say that we are world class. We are one of the best. Now, my objective was clear, but I wondered, where do I begin?
Cite this transcript
APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA
Bajaj, R. (2026, May 14). Rajiv Bajaj at #100YearsOfBajaj [Interview transcript]. Bajaj Finance. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1023650/
