New Delhi, May 14 -- By naming Ajoy Chawla as its next managing director a full seven months before the incumbent, C.K. Venkataraman, is scheduled to retire, Titan has once again shown the way to smooth leadership transition. Chawla will be only the fourth MD of the company in the last 40 years since it was founded, a tribute to its succession planning. For context, Wipro has had that many CEOs in just the last 10 years while Jet Airways, before it shut down in 2019, saw six CEO changes in the previous 14 years.

By contrast, Titan's only three CEOs before Chawla have enjoyed long and uninterrupted tenures. Xerxes Desai, who laid the company's foundations, held the reins for 16 years. Bhaskar Bhat, his successor, steered Titan for the nex...