TVS boss Venu Srinivasan has a big say in Tata, but what does it mean for JLR?
TVS chairman emeritus Venu Srinivasan has emerged as a key figure in a Tata boardroom battle that could have implications for Jaguar Land Rover.
Venu Srinivasan is probably better known to Visordown readers as the man who helped build TVS into one of India's biggest two-wheeler manufacturers, and as the figure who, along with his son, TVS MD and chairman Sudershan Venu, brought Norton into the company's growing portfolio.
These days, though, his most interesting job is away from motorcycles.
Srinivasan has become a key figure in an increasingly complicated power struggle at the heart of the Tata Group, the Indian conglomerate that owns Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). He sits on the board of Tata Sons as one of just two representatives of the Tata Trusts, which collectively own around 66 per cent of Tata Sons.
That gives him considerably more influence than his title of TVS chairman emeritus might suggest. The current argument centres on whether Tata Sons should be listed on the stock market and who should lead the group, with Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata taking a different position from Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran.
Srinivasan has backed Chandrasekaran's reappointment for another five years and supports Tata Sons moving towards a stock market listing, a move that is being pushed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and internal shareholder pressures.
With the Tata Sons board consisting of six members, and the two Tata Trusts nominees not taking the same position, Srinivasan has effectively become a crucial vote in the dispute.
So where does JLR come into this? The British car maker has been owned by Tata Motors since 2008 and remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors. Tata Sons, meanwhile, is Tata Motors' largest shareholder.
That means Srinivasan isn't suddenly involved in deciding what happens to the next Range Rover or Jaguar. His influence is several steps further up the corporate ladder, but any major change to the way Tata Sons is structured or governed has the potential to affect the wider group, including the businesses underneath it.
For JLR, which is currently pushing ahead with a major product and electrification strategy, the immediate business plan remains unchanged. JLR has said it wants greater flexibility between hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric powertrains while targeting further growth in North America.
The interesting bit, then, is not that the former TVS boss is running JLR. He isn't. It's that a man who helped build one of India's major motorcycle manufacturers now has a potentially decisive voice in the boardroom above one of Britain's biggest car companies.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
