The Board of Directors at Maruti Udyog have approved a proposal to change the company’s name to Maruti Suzuki India.
The need for the change in the company’s name came in the light of the Indian government selling off its residual stake in the company last May.
The name change, meanwhile, is subject to approval by shareholders. The new name will come into effect once it is approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, and thereafter by the Registrar of Companies, a company release said.
Maruti is one of the strongest corporate brand names in the country in terms of awareness, recall, trust and customer care, and the Board of Directors decided to retain that value in the name, said the company press release.
Suzuki is the parent company and it imparts an international dimension to the company’s new name, the release said. India, on the other hand, indicates the location of the company and its facilities and recognises the growing importance of the country across the world.
This international dimension is expected to help Maruti reach out to global markets. It may be noted that the company had earlier announced it would launch a new product for export to Europe in the next couple of years, while building on its recent success in Afro-Asian markets. Maruti is also developing capabilities to become Suzuki’s research & development hub for Asia, outside Japan.
The government’s exit from Maruti Udyog was valued at Rs 2,360 crore, which was picked up by a clutch of financial institutions. All the shares held by the government were sold at an average price of Rs 797 per share. The government had earlier fixed a floor price of Rs 760 for the sale.
The bulk of the government’s remaining 10.27 percent stake in Maruti Udyog, which accounted for 2.96 crore shares, was picked up by Life Insurance Corporation. LIC got all the 1.3 crore shares it had bid for at a price of Rs 800 per share, thus becoming the second-largest shareholder in the company with 12.5 percent stake, up from the earlier 8.1 percent. State Bank of India was the second most successful bidder and got 83 lakh shares at Rs 775 per share. In all, 32 financial institutions and mutual funds were allotted shares.
Other name changes
In recent years, companies in the auto sector that have changed their names include Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company which became Tata Motors, Bajaj Tempo which became Force Motors, Goetze India which is now Federal Mogul Goetze India and Tata Holset is now Cummins Turbo Technologies following the acquisition by Cummins Inc. of Tata Motors’ stake in the joint venture. Kalyani Brakes was renamed Bosch Chassis Systems India after the Kalyani Group sold its equity to the Bosch group.
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