New Delhi, Sept 01: De Neers, one of India’s leading manufacturers of professional hand tools and insulated tools, today announced the appointment of Sudhir Malhotra as Strategic Advisor – Automotive & Future Mobility.
The appointment marks a strategic step in De Neers’ engagement with the automotive and future mobility sector, an area the company sees as central to its long-term growth alongside its established presence across industrial and professional tool categories. Automotive is currently one of De Neers’ fastest-growing verticals, with the company targeting strong double-digit growth in the segment over the next two to three years as it deepens its engagement with OEMs and dealer networks.
Sudhir brings over three decades of automotive industry experience spanning workshop operations, aftersales, dealer network development, sales, marketing and business leadership. His background provides deep insight into OEM requirements, dealer ecosystems, aftersales operations and the evolving needs of the mobility industry.
As mobility transitions accelerate, De Neers views precision tooling as a critical enabler of safety and reliability across the automotive value chain, making it essential to stay ahead of where the industry is headed. The shift towards EV and hybrid platforms is also creating new requirements across manufacturing, workshops and aftersales, particularly around high-voltage systems and electrical safety.
De Neers already manufactures specialised tooling for these environments, including insulated, non-sparking and anti-magnetic tools. As EV penetration increases, the company plans to further strengthen this portfolio in line with evolving workshop and industry requirements. Rather than treating future mobility as a separate business line, De Neers is integrating these capabilities into its broader automotive strategy.
Neeraj Agarwal, Managing Director, De Neers, said: “De Neers has built its reputation on the quality and reliability of its products. As mobility evolves, we want that same rigor applied to how we understand our customers and industry partners. Sudhir’s experience across the automotive ecosystem will sharpen our engagement with OEMs and dealers as we grow our presence in this space.”
Sudhir Malhotra said: “Every major technology transition reinforces one lesson: the ecosystem that supports the technology must evolve alongside it. Quality tools are an essential part of that ecosystem, enabling safety, reliability and service excellence. I look forward to working with the De Neers team to strengthen its role in the future mobility landscape.”
In his advisory role, Sudhir will work with De Neers’ leadership to strengthen OEM and dealer engagement, advise on product and category strategy aligned with evolving vehicle technologies, and support the company’s EV-specific tooling roadmap. His mandate will also include helping De Neers anticipate changing workshop and aftersales requirements as the automotive industry transitions towards newer mobility platforms.