Karthick is currently Professor of Practice at AU. He is also a “Fellow” with the Principal Scientific Advisor’s office, Govt. of India. Karthick is currently on a 2-year sabbatical from Ashok Leyland, where he was the Senior Vice President & Head of their eMobility Business and Technology.

At IITM, he is developing and launching different multi-disciplinary Programs in eMobility- as well as initiating various Projects jointly across Academia-Industry-Govt. He is also deeply involved with the Govt. of India, Industry Associations and Academia to improve eMobility-related R&D, Skilling and Innovation.

With the PSA’s office as a Fellow, he had helped the Govt. of India develop cutting edge, unique and innovative Charging Standards to suit the Indian context for e2Wheelers and eBuses. He is currently in the process of preparing a detailed R&D and Technology RoadMap for eMobility in India to help the country achieve leadership position in the medium term.

At Ashok Leyland, he has handled projects like the eMobility, Captain Cab, Sunshine School Bus, Circuit eBus and the HyBus Hybrid Bus. He was the Chief Engineer for Buses, Cabs & Load Bodies and also managed the Product Development for Optare- Leyland’s subsidiary in the UK- world pioneers in Electric & Hybrid Buses.

In his earlier role as the Head of Global Bus Platform, he was instrumental is recasting the Global Bus Portfolio of the company, targetting new markets, trends and segments. As the Head of AL’s eMobility Business he has been in the forefront of electrification of Commercial Vehicles in India- helping AL win many awards in the eMobility space for Innovation.

Before joining Ashok Leyland, for the previous 15+ years, Karthick was a successful entrepreneur and had promoted, developed, managed and sold three businesses in the Die Making, Product Engineering and IT domains.

Karthick is interested in Travel and Wildlife and is proud of his association with the Ashok Leyland team that recently developed, for & during the COVID crisis, a value Respirator for First Mile use and non-critical care.