Accelerating Ahead

When both the parents are business tycoons in their respective fields, the pressure to live up to the family legacy doubles. Lakshmi Venu, the daughter of TVS Motor chairman and managing director Venu Srinivasan and Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) chairperson and chief executive Mallika Srinivasan, is living up to the expectations and is well on a way to carve a separate identity for herself in the automotive industry, which is largely dominated by males.

With a Bachelor's Degree in economics from Yale University and a Doctorate in Engineering Management from the University of Warwick, England, Venu has been a natural leader in her entrepreneurial journey. She has been in the auto industry since 2003, where she became a management trainee at TVS Motors. Her commitment to work kept her moving up and up in the corporate ladder. In 2010, she became the full time director of Sundaram-Clayton Ltd and the next year she ascended to the vice-president position for strategy & global business development.

In 2014, she became joint managing director of Sundaram Clayton, and since then she has been instrumental in shaping its expansion plans and exploring business opportunities in the domestic and the international and domestic market besides increasing cost efficiency.

Venu is one of the few women in India to be a top-tier corporate position at an auto company. Apart from her mother, Mallika Srinivasan, the other top leader also happens to come from TVS Group- Shobhana Ramachandhran, the MD of TVS Tyres. Venu also serves as Director of TAFE Motors and Tractors Limited, Sundram Non-Conventional Energy Systems Limited, Sundaram Auto Components Limited and Sundaram-Clayton (USA) Limited.

The company achieved a stupendous growth in the third quarter. PAT for Sundaram Clayton for the third quarter in the on-going fiscal jumped to Rs. 47.9 crore from Rs 7.5 crore in Q3FY16 and the company made strategic expansion announcements. Now, the automotive casting company, is all set invest $50 million to set up a greenfield factory in the United Sates. The company has acquired land and serial production is expected to commence by the end of 2018. The US market contributes a major share of SCLs export revenue. The US facility will have a production capacity of 10,000 MT over a period of five years.

"Over the last decade the automotive components industry in India has grown three times in size and exports have grown rapidly as well. I believe there is a bright future for India auto component companies both in India and in the export market," Venu said in a statement. In addition, the company has announced a Rs 400 crore expansion plan for its Indian operations.

Neither TVS Motor nor TAFE has made any public announcement regarding succession, but given Venu's given responsibilities, one can assume that she may lead the largest automotive conglomerate of the country in future. And why not. Lakhsmi Venu is a symbol of the confident woman of the 21st century. They are decisive and not afraid to take risks, both in their personal and professional lives. They are not afraid of making mistakes. And yes, they revel in demolishing outdated myths based on a male dominated world.