Electric vehicle manufacturer Ather Energy is witnessing boardroom changes shortly after its underwhelming market debut earlier this week. The day of the company’s stock exchange listing, Niranjan Kumar Gupta, non-executive director and outgoing CEO of Hero MotoCorp, stepped down from Ather’s board.
Gupta, who joined the board in 2020 as Hero’s nominee, was also a member of Ather’s IPO committee. He resigned from his CEO role at Hero on January 31, 2025, officially departing the company on April 30 to explore new opportunities. Before becoming CEO in 2023, Gupta had served as Hero MotoCorp’s CFO for six years.
In his absence, Vikram Kasbekar, Hero’s Executive Director of Operations, took over as acting CEO from May 1. Ather has yet to announce Gupta’s board replacement, but Ram Kuppuswamy, Hero’s Chief Procurement Officer, continues to represent the company on Ather’s board.
Other key board members at Ather include Kaushik Dutta (Chairman, Zomato), Pankaj Sood (GIC), and Nilesh Shrivastava (NIIF), apart from co-founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain.
Following its listing at ₹326.05 on Tuesday, Ather’s stock experienced a sharp decline, dropping nearly 12% to ₹287.30 during intraday trading on Wednesday. The listing followed a lukewarm IPO, which closed on April 30 with an oversubscription of just 1.43 times, receiving bids for 7.65 crore shares against 5.34 crore on offer.
Founded in 2013 as an IIT Madras-incubated startup, Ather Energy has grown into one of India’s key electric scooter manufacturers. However, it faces stiff competition in the segment from Ola Electric, Bajaj, TVS, and increasingly, its own investor and promoter, Hero MotoCorp, which holds over 38% stake in the company.
The boardroom churn and weak listing underscore the challenges Ather may face in scaling further amidst intensifying competition in India’s booming EV two-wheeler market.
