G.V. Aras, Director of the Textile Engineering Group at A.T.E announced his retirement recently, after completing 40 years of service. He joined A.T.E. in 1981 as a ‘Junior Sales & Service Engineer’ in its Mumbai regional office. By the dint of his hard work, dedication, and competence, he rose through the ranks and was appointed as a Board Member of the company in 2008.
Heading the Textile Enginering Group (TEG) in A.T.E., Mr Aras was responsible for its total functioning, profitability, customer/principal relationships, business strategy and growth. Mr Aras enjoys excellent relationships with customers and principals and is widely respected for his deep knowledge of the textile domain. He provided inspiring leadership to his team and served as a role model for those directly and indirectly associated with him over the years.
Mr Aras had been earlier on the committees of the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Indo-Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce. He is a trustee of the Textile Association of India (Mumbai unit), and is a member of the Senate of VJTI as well as part of its Technical Advisory Group. He is also the recipient of ‘Service Gold Medal’ of Textile Association of India, 2018.
Sharing his thoughts Mr. Anuj Bhagwati, Head – A.T.E. Group said, Mr G V Aras has made many contributions to our textile engineering business over the past 40 years before he retired as the Director, Textile Engineering Group, on 31 March 2021. He has played a key role in making A.T.E. a single window solution provider across the textile value chain. He nurtured deep relationships with our customers and our principals. He has always upheld the values of A.T.E., such as to ensure high customer and satisfaction.
While Mr Aras will now have more time to spend with his family and pursue his hobbies, I am sure, he will continue to be available to us in A.T.E. and to the textile industry at large to help us with his deep knowledge of textile processes and business management.
At A.T.E., we have ensured smooth succession with the induction of Mr Abhijit Kulkarni, a professional with 24 years of industry experience, who will step-by-step take over the management of the Textile Engineering Group as its President. He will be working closely with all our experienced business heads, who are experts in their domains. As always, we will do our best to ensure complete stakeholder satisfaction.
Abhijit A Kulkarni is the new President
Mr Abhijit Kulkarni is a seasoned business leader bringing with him 24 years of experience, as he was the Business Head, General Machinery (Motors, Gear Boxes, Fluid Power, Construction, Textile) at SKF India. He has a proven track record of delivering consistent high performance sales results for large key accounts.
Mr Kulkarni holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Pune and a postgraduate diploma in Marketing Management from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. Prior to joining A.T.E., he was Business Head, General Machinery (Motors, Gear Boxes, Fluid Power, Construction, Textile) at SKF India.
He has also served as Business Head, Defence division as well as Business Unit Head, Energy Segment Sales at SKF. Mr Kulkarni will take over the management of the TEG business unit step by step. He will be responsible for TEG’s profitability, market expansion and business growth in line with the long term goals of the A.T.E. Group.