Hyundai Motor India’s management has a new worry: talent leaving its ranks amid rising competition from homegrown carmakers Tata and Mahindra and the entry of VinFast and JSW Motors.
The management has noted rising attrition in many of its regional offices and is beginning a series of measures to curb it, starting with an immediate interim salary increase for employees, according to a person directly aware of the developments.
“There have been many exits in sales and marketing functions in regional offices, which has prompted the decision to roll out about a 1-2% salary hike on top of the annual hike,” the person said.
Hyundai confirmed it is implementing an interim hike as part of employee welfare measures but denied there is any worry about rising attrition.
The turnover rate, a measure of the number of employees leaving a company, in the annual reports of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Hyundai India offer a clue.
For Hyundai, the rate rose in FY26, a year when its domestic sales declined by 2% to 584,906 cars as against the industry growth of 8% to 4.7 million units. Hyundai’s permanent employee turnover rate increased to 7.94% in FY26 from 5% in FY25.
At Tata Motors PV, the turnover rate declined to 7.2% in FY26 from 8.6% in FY25. Mahindra and Mahindra’s turnover rate declined marginally to 10.6% from 10.8% in the same period.
Hyundai India said in response to Mint’s queries that the company reviews its people policies and compensation practices to ensure they remain fair, competitive, equitable and aligned with evolving employee expectations.
“The interim compensation revision is in line with our employee-centric philosophy and forms part of the various employee welfare initiatives regularly undertaken by the company. We have one of the lowest attrition levels in the automobile industry in India and therefore, there is no question of our regular employee welfare activities being linked to the so-called ‘attrition’ referenced in your query. Hope this clarifies,” a company spokesperson said.
Experts noted that the rising churn comes with opportunities opening up for talent in the automobile industry as top carmakers , Tata Motors PV and Mahindra expand and newer carmakers VinFast and JSW Motors enter the market.
Senior employees of Hyundai India too have left. Hyundai’s vice president for national sales, Tapan Ghosh, left in October 2025 to join as VinFast CEO along with Bhartendu Singh who joined as chief marketing officer.
“In today’s increasingly competitive automotive talent market, compensation corrections are becoming essential to retain critical talent. With new players entering and established OEMs stepping up their expansion plans, aligning benefits with market standards is no longer optional. Such corrections also underline an OEM’s willingness to keep its employee value proposition competitive,” said Bhavna Kaushik, founder at Abuzz Consulting, a Delhi-based automotive-focused executive search firm.
With Hyundai facing pressure on its market share and looking to recover lost ground with a series of new launches over the next few years, managerial employees executing its strategy have become critical.
In its latest annual report, the company acknowledged its weak performance in FY26, slipping to fourth place in the sales rankings after 16 years as India’s second-largest carmaker behind Maruti Suzuki.
“While domestic sales noted a decline due to lower product enhancement activity compared to competitors, our Company noted around 16.4% growth in its export sales volume,” Hyundai Motor India said in its management report on its performance in FY26.
Although the company has maintained that it is focused on protecting margins and profitability rather than aggressively chasing the No. 2 spot, the admission suggests that a slower pace of product launches weighed on its performance.
Hyundai has planned more than two dozen launches over the next four years, with a new SUV, Bayon, set to be introduced later this month.
