Interim team takes charge at Mattel India

Four top officials had quit in March following an audit. The management team comprises Rahul Bhowmik, Marketing Director; Rasika Malhotra, HR Director, and Ritesh Bindal, Sales Director, Mattel India which owns brands such as Barbee and Hot Wheels.

An interim management team is now running Mattel India, the subsidiary of toy company Mattel Inc., after four top officials, including its country manager, quit abruptly. The management team comprises Rahul Bhowmik, Marketing Director; Rasika Malhotra, HR Director, and Ritesh Bindal, Sales Director, Mattel India which owns brands such as Barbee and Hot Wheels.

“We have a great talent pool in the organisation. So when these people quit, the management team immediately stepped in and covered the bases in the organisation. It is working very well and I am extremely pleased on what they are doing. Business has not suffered due to this (quitting),” Peter Broegger, Senior Vice-President, & GM, Asia Pacific, Mattel East Asia, told The Hindu .

“At the same time that (this situation) allowed the regional leadership team of Mattel to not only support the Indian team but also to make sure we look for the next generation of talents. That talent can come from within Mattel or outside, from India or outside,” he added.

External search

Mattel has engaged external consultants to help it secure the right candidates. Both external and internal candidates are being evaluated. This time the focus is to find right candidates who would remain with the company for long.

In March, Mattel India plunged into crisis when four top officials resigned following an audit. But Mr. Broegger said that the exits had nothing to do with the audit and the auditors had not found out any financial irregularity.

“We will not get into individual personalities. I accept that it all looks suspicious. However, I assure that all of this is coincidence. They happened to leave at the same time and there was no financial irregularity.” Mr. Broegger said.

Taking stock

Mr. Broegger, whose jurisdiction is Asia Pacific region, flew down from Hong Kong earlier this week to take stock of the situation and to address the concerns raised following the top-level exists for which the company was caught off guard. He met employees and customers to reassure that Mattel would continue to remain committed to the Indian market and would invest more as well as introduce new range of toys to grow its business here.