Director - New initiatives & Strategy
Frugalhacks is proud to be advised by Mr. M. U. B. Rao, a veteran automotive leader with 36+ years of OEM experience across India’s commercial vehicle and bus engineering ecosystem. He has held senior leadership roles at Mahindra Truck & Bus, Ashok Leyland and TACO Hendrickson and retired as Advisor – Product Development at Mahindra, driving next-generation platforms and high-impact engineering programs.
With deep expertise in chassis systems, vehicle architecture, drivetrain and bus engineering, spanning ICE, EV, and LNG platforms, Mr. Rao brings a strong OEM mindset to Frugalhacks’ startup-driven innovation model.
Mr. Rao’s guidance helps Frugalhacks accelerate practical, automation-led solutions that are not just innovative, but production-ready, cost-optimized and globally benchmarked. His experience ensures FH solutions align with real OEM needs durability, manufacturability, compliance and scalability while leveraging AI-assisted engineering, smart automation and digital manufacturing.
By bringing firsthand OEM leadership experience, Mr. Rao enables Frugalhacks to better support Tier-1 and Tier-2 manufacturers in meeting stringent OEM expectations. His insights help suppliers adopt smart engineering workflows, automation and frugal innovation to improve quality, reduce cost, and accelerate time-to-market.
Aligned with Make in India, Mr. Rao strengthens Frugalhacks’ vision of delivering globally competitive automotive and transportation solutions through industrial automation, robotics and intelligent engineering systems.