Venu Srinivasan

Venu Srinivasan
Nationality Indian
Alma mater College of Engineering, Guindy
Purdue University
Occupation Industrialist
Employer TVS Motors
Title Chairman
Spouse(s) Mallika Srinivasan
Children Lakshmi, Sudarshan
Relatives T. V. Sundaram Iyengar (grandfather)

Venu Srinivasan is an Indian Industrialist, who is the Chairman of Sundaram-Clayton Group which includes TVS Motor Company, the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India and also companies that manufacture automotive components in India. He is the Goodwill Envoy for Public Diplomacy, Republic of Korea. He has held various important positions in the Indian Industry, such as :


  1. Chairman of National Safety Council, Government of India
  2. President, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for the year 2009
  3. President, The Automotive Research Association of India for the period 1998-2000
  4. President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers for the period 1999-2001.

He is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees, of the Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswany Temple and also the Managing Trustee for the Srinivasan Services Trust (SST) the social arm of Sundaram-Clayton Limited and TVS Motor Company.(http://www.tvssst.org/) [1]


Career

Venu Srinivasan is the grandson of the TVS Group's founder, T. V. Sundaram Iyengar.[2] After graduating as an engineer from the College of Engineering, Guindy, he completed a Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University in the USA.

He became the Managing Director of Sundaram Clayton Ltd. in May 1979. He went on to become Chairman of TVS Motor Company in July 2002.

In the late 1980s, Srinivasan scripted a turnaround of the company, which was then mired in labour trouble and was sinking into the red. Srinivasan dealt with the situation sternly and shut the factory down for three months, forcing the unions to relent. He then re-structured operations by upgrading plant machinery, investing in new technologies and implementing Total Quality Management practices. He also brought in Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya of the University of Warwick as a consultant to provide guidance.In 2001, TVS Motor Company split with Suzuki and started manufacturing on its own.[3] TVS Motor Company re-entered contention by successfully launching Victor, India's first indigenously built four stroke motorcycle.[4] The slew of launches that followed propelled TVS Motor Company to become the third largest two wheeler manufacturer in India.

Srinivasan later brought in Professor Yasutoshi Washio of Japan, a Deming Application Prize Winner and globally renowned expert in Total Quality Management and Japanese Quality Management Guru Prof Yoshikazu Tsuda as mentors to strengthen the TQM processes within the company.

Under his leadership as the Managing Director, Sundaram Clayton's brakes division won the Deming Prize in 1998 for having "achieved distinctive performance improvements through application of company-wide quality control".[5] In 2002, TVS Motor Company also won the Deming Prize, becoming the first two-wheeler company in the world to do so.[6]

Srinivasan holds several other positions:[1][3]

Srinivasan was also:


Awards and Honours

Venu Srinivasan was conferred the coveted Padma Shri Award by the President Of India in 2010 for his contributions in the field of trade and industry. He is the Goodwill Envoy for Public Diplomacy of the Republic of Korea. He was earlier the Honorary Consul General, Republic of Korea, Chennai. In 2010, he was honoured by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, with the distinguished civilian honour, ‘Order of Diplomatic Service Merit,’ in recognition of his contribution in promoting bilateral relations between South Korea and India. It is rare for a Honorary Consul General to be conferred this award, which is given by the Republic of Korea for meritorious service to the extension of national prestige overseas and promotion of friendship with other nations.[7]

Asian Network for Quality (ANQ) chose Venu Srinivasan as one of the winners of its prestigious Ishikawa-Kano Award for the year 2012 for his substantial contribution to the advancement of theories and practices of quality management within TVS Motor, that have been used for enhancing quality of products, services and processes.[8]

Venu Srinivasan was appointed as the Honorary Commander of Korean Naval vessel, ROKS Choi Young(DDH-981), which is a unique honour for a civilian, in appreciation for his dedication to enhance the friendship and Co-operation between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of India. In December 2014, Venu Srinivasan was conferred an honorary citizenship by the Mayor of Busan metropolitan city, the 2nd largest city in Korea.

Year Name Awarding organization Ref.
2003 Star of Asia Businessweek [3]
2004 Honorary Doctorate in Science for Excellence in Manufacturing University of Warwick [9]
2004 Jamsetji Tata Lifetime Achievement Award Indian Society for Quality [10]
2005 J R D Tata Corporate Leadership Award All India Management Association [11]
2009 Doctor Of Science, Honoris Causa IIT, Kharagpur, India [12]
2010 Padma Shri Government of India [13]
2010 Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Government of South Korea [14]
2012 Ishikawa-Kano Award Asian Network for Quality [15]
2014 Doctor of Management Purdue University, USA [16]
2014 Honorary Commander of Korean Naval vessel, ROKS Choi Young Republic of Korean Navy [17]
2014 Honorary Citizenship, Republic of Korea Busan Metropolitan Council [18]
2014 Goodwill Envoy for Public Diplomacy Republic of Korea
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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 SST (1 April 2015). "Srinivasan Services Trust". SST. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
  2. ↑ "'Indian customer is not aggressive in his demands' (Interview with Venu Srinivasan)". Rediff.com. 29 July 1999. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "TVS Motor Company Ltd - Executive Profile: Venu Srinivasan". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  4. ↑ "TVS Targets 24% Of Market Share This Fiscal". Financial Express. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
  5. ↑ "Sundaram Clayton bags Deming Prize". Business Standard. 23 October 1998. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  6. ↑ "TVS Motor Bags Deming Award For Quality Management". Financial Express. 3 November 2002. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  7. ↑ "Venu Srinivasan Conferred Award". The Hindu. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
  8. ↑ "Venu Srinivasan gets Ishikawa-Kano award". Business Line. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
  9. ↑ "Venu Srinivasan receives honorary doctorate from University of Warwick, UK news". domain-b.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  10. ↑ "Mr Venu Srinivasan is new CII President". Business Standard. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  11. ↑ "TVS head Venu Srinivasan bags JRD Tata Award". Economic Times. 4 February 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  12. ↑ "Honorary Doctorate for TVS Motors’ Venu Srinivasan". New India Express. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  13. ↑ "Padma awardees Venu Srinivasan, Manoharan overwhelmed". MSN News. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  14. ↑ "Venu Srinivasan conferred award". MSN News (Chennai, India). 25 January 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "Awardees of 2012 Ishikawa-Kano Award". ANQ Congress 2012 (Hong Kong). 3 August 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Purdue University, USA Honours Mr. Venu Srinivasan". Purdue University 2012 (United States of America). 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  17. ↑ "Venu Srinivasan appointed commanding officer of Korean naval vessel". Economic Times. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  18. ↑ "TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan conferred honorary citizenship of Busan". Economic Times. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.